Can't Cancel or Downgrade Account!!!!

I have General Power of Attorney to handle matters in South Africa on behalf of my wife. She is currently residing in UK and will be there for a number of years.

I have been told by my attorney that I can handle all sort of situations on behalf of my wife and that should include the bank affairs.

The attorney was correct. I could happily sell a house and deal with multiple other accounts with no issue, but for whatever reason, Standard Bank thinks they are special, and will not let me downgrade my wife's account (as she will not be using it) at the Centurion Branch.

I am told this after being stringed along and waiting for three hours at the branch. The initial staff member asked, do I have signing power and I showed her proof that I did, and than she asked me to wait for consultant and that it would not be a problem.

When a consultant and her team leader eventually assisted me, they informed me that my wife must be present and that it does not matter that I have General Power of Attorney.

So my wife must fly half way around the world to appear in Centurion Branch. This is plain ridiculous especially considering the difficulty of international travel currently.

What is the process to downgrade or close an account for my wife?

The Standard Bank Community Forums is full of people having this same complaint, being told to forward documents to *** and have those same multiple people saying that nothing comes of it and that Standard Bank's service is just plain terrible.

How do I resolve this situation?

Is Standard Bank going to try and be reasonable about this and admit the ridiculousness of their request?