One time a bank tried to stop me from moving my money to a new bank. It was reasonable for security to be high, of course, but not prohibitively so. After an in-person visit and a 30 day waiting period they "rejected my request," no reason given, no response to my request for a reason given, and told me to try again in 90 days.
Someone on HN suggested getting the comptroller involved. I think I found a state office called the comptroller, but it might have been the federal one? In any case, the moment they showed up in a conference call the bank transferred me to someone important, stopped fooling around, and made the transfer happen. The person at the comptroller office never got past the asking questions stage, but the bank's behavior changed immediately in a way that suggested they recognized the smell of authority. So that's my keyword suggestion: comptroller.
