Lloyds Bank has become the first financial services company to undertake a trial with Signly – a British Sign Language (BSL) translation tool. Lloyds Banking Group’s Innovation Labs trialled the technology to understand how Signly could offer an alternative option for up to 250,000 people in the UK who use BSL each day. Since undertaking the trial, the Bank is now looking to test the technology with a wider group of customers.
Signly enables customers to scan Signly-enabled literature on their smartphone which provides translations into BSL through augmented reality. The trial incorporated Signly’s functionality into both written and online material, enabling hard of hearing and deaf customers to use BSL to understand the financial material they were being shown.
In addition to trialling Signly functionality, Lloyds Bank currently provides a wealth of ways for customers to interact with their bank. These include Text Relay and SignVideo, a signed video service which provides deaf customers with access to an online interpreter. For those with visual impairments, customers can access large print, braille and recorded literature.
Signly hopes that by working with Lloyds Bank they can eliminate the financial jargon that can sometimes be confusing, and allow those that use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first language to have the information literally at their fingertips. Friendly, clear and informative without relying on the availability of an interpreter. Although family and friends like to help, and interpreters are available, it’s empowering to access information on demand without having to make a ‘special need’ known.
