UK’s Lloyds Bank is testing a new service which lets customers deposit cheques using a mobile device.

The technology, called cheque imaging, enables users to take a photo of a cheque using their mobile phone camera which is then sent securely through an app for clearance.

Funds are cleared the same day without the need for customers to go into a branch or physically send on a paper version.

The maximum deposit is £2,500 in one day.

The test phase is expected to run for several weeks to identify the needs of different customers with a view to expanding the service in 2015, the bank said in a statement.

Barclays has been trialling this technology since June, when the UK government introduced a bill that changed legislation to allow banks to make use of cheque imaging.

The law change was needed because previously banks had to confirm the details on cheques before paying them. For this reason, they had to be physically transported from bank branch to a clearing centre before being signed off.

The technology has already caught on in the US. In January, Bank of America said that nine per cent of all its cheques deposited go through iPads and mobile phones.