“Financial mania” caused bank collapse

“The extent to which large parts of Irish society were willing to let the good times roll on until the very last minute, a feature of the financial mania, may have been exceptional.” This exceptionally long headline from the Irish Times is a quote from the official report on the collapse of Ireland’s financial sector by Finnish banking expert Patrick Nyberg, released 19 April. Invited to examine Ireland’s case from January 1st, 2003 until January 15th 2009, Mr Nyberg - after six months, 140 interviews and at a cost of €1.32 million - has concluded that “lax oversight by regulators and the government, flawed lending decisions by the banks and an ‘unquestioning consensus’ regarding a likely soft landing in the property market were the main reasons”. However, the report “stops short of pointing the finger of blame at any individuals for the financial crisis here,” the Dublin daily notes, adding in its leader that the report is “surprisingly light on figures and rather heavy on psychology”. It adds that the “rather subtle conclusion that Mr Nyberg has arrived at – that we are all responsible to a greater or lesser extent for the mess in which we find ourselves – will not satisfy everyone.”