随着手机银行应用的普及，英国高街上遍布各家银行的景象可能随之一去不返。 Simon Gompertz 报道手机银行应用的流行趋势。

In a small office behind London's King's Cross station a band of technology entrepreneurs is setting up a bank with 140 staff to offer what traditional banks need tens of thousands of people to provide. It is Tandem Bank, which will have an app and a small call centre.

Two hundred and fifty miles away in Durham, Atom Bank has been given a licence too. You won't even need a password to log into an account on its app – it'll recognise your face or your voice.

More start-up banks are set to follow. The Bank of England is talking to 26 candidates for licences – among them several budding app-only operations.

Despite evidence that people are fearful of switching banks, they are targeting millions of customers.

词汇表

entrepreneurs （复数）创业者
call centre 电话服务中心
licence 许可，执照
password 密码，口令
recognise 识别，认出
budding 刚起步的，成长中的
switching 更换

测验

请听报道并回答下列问题。

1. How many people work for Tandem Bank?

2. True or False? You need to remember a special word to access your app-only bank account.

3. Who decides if these banks can operate or not?

4. What's the challenge these new banks face, according to the report?

答案

1. How many people work for Tandem Bank?
It has a staff of 140 people.

2. True or False? You need to remember a special word to access your app-only bank account.
False. Some of these app-only banks give you access through voice or face recognition.

3. Who decides if these banks can operate or not?
The Bank of England.

4. What's the challenge these new banks face, according to the report?
Customers are fearful of switching banks.