UNSATISFIED bank clients now have somewhere else to turn with their complaints and requests.
The bank ombud's office, manned by former MP Eva Černá, is to start operating in mid-September. Her jurisdiction will include all the banks in the Slovak Bank Association.
The bank ombud's office will be a place where clients can turn if they are not satisfied with how their complaints are handled in the banks themselves.
"We expect 150 motions a month," Černá told the TASR newswire.
The new institute will only offer recommendations to bank clients. This means it will neither decide on disputes, nor replace courts.
"The National Bank of Slovakia perceives the institute of the ombud's office as one step that may lead to protection of bank clients," central bank spokesperson Jana Kováčová told the Hospodárske Noviny daily.
