Recently I had considerable trouble with my bank. They threatened many times to freeze my accounts -- however, the problem was that they had kept losing papers that I gave them. I took the matter to the ombudsman -- and here it became interesting. The bank sent "preliminary comments" to the ombudsman, and the ombudsman, on this basis, closed the case. Now "preliminary" means "preceding or done in preparation for something fuller or more important". These "fuller" communications bypassed the complainant, which is me. What, then, were they about? OBSERVATION: This could suggest a privileged relationship between bank and ombudsman. In worst cases, regulatory capture, where an ombudsman or regulator acts in the interests of, say, banks or lawyers or retailers. Regulatory capture is a problem in South Africa -- which is to say, an ombudsman or regulator may protect the entity it is meant to keep in check -- against the complainant or client. My bank's threats, incidentally, came to an end. They even made a good-will payment to my account.
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