Establish banks ombudsman

THE Government must consider establishing a banks ombudsman basically to deal with customer complaints and to ensure banks conduct their customer services prudently.
As technology shapes the banking and finance industry, how do customers get protected from the behaviour of banks towards them?
Many customers are complaining about high transaction fees and all kinds of restrictions that hurt customers.
Some customers had their personal accounts flagged by their banks without justification.
What right do the banks have in flagging accounts of customers if it does not connote anything sinister?
One customer I interviewed has been subjected to such treatment for four months now and denied withdrawals and this is totally unacceptable.
Does it take such length of time to have an account flagged without establishing to the customer the underlying reasons?
While we have the regulator, Bank of PNG that scrutinises licensing and prudential standards of banks, it does not really look into customer complaints.
Therefore, only by having a banks ombudsman can we have customers taking their complaints directly to be addressed satisfactorily?
So please can we take back Papua New Guinea from disruptive behaviours of banks against their customers?
Over to you the government.

Consumer Advocate