Nyberg Report published

http://www.finance.gov.ie/documents/publications/reports/2011/nybergreport.pdf

I haven't had a chance to read it properlty yet. Seems to blame the herd mentality in the main banks for following the irresponsible lending of Anglo and Irish Nationwide.

The Financial Regulator relied on the assurances of the Chief Executives of the banks to make prudential decisions.

The headings in the Executive Summary are interesting

Executive Summary
Preconditions for the Crisis
Contagion
Consensus

Flawed lending: Anglo and INBS
The Herd: Other Banks
The Silent Observers: External Auditors
The Enablers: Public Authorities
Policy with Insufficient Information: the Guarantee
Some Lessons

Unbelievable. I could have written that report. How much did these guys get and how long did it take them.

elcato said:

Unbelievable. I could have written that report. How much did these guys get and how long did it take them.

Click to expand...

+1

I've skimmed through it looking for some insights but so far there haven't been any revelations...

elcato said:

Unbelievable. I could have written that report. How much did these guys get and how long did it take them.

Click to expand...

- Yes more money waisted for stating the obvious.

What do you expect from a career Civil Servant? God forbid there might be clarity, specifics, names, exactness - he even sympathised with the lack of minutes (in writing) of the famous Sept 2009 meeting when we paid for Sean Fitzpatrick's (and the other 'b'ankers!) slight misdemeanours!!!! The dogs in the street know what happened, who did it, when, where, how and most importantly, why!

I think you are missing one of the important points he made - the problem of herd mentality and groupthink, not just in the banks and institutions but in a lot of Irish society.

I came back to live in Ireland at the end of 2003, having lived in the UK and France since 1975. It seemed obvious to me that property prices then were way out of line compared to property prices in UK and on the continent and I said so at every opportunity I got. But eventually, I gave up speaking out about it as I was considered a complete idiot by all and sundry (or most of them). I didn't change my mind but was astounded by how long the bubble lasted.

Unless we all face up to this fact, naming, blaming and, eventually, prosecuting, individuals would be a pointless exercice - it might make us feel that THEY were to blame for the whole mess and so exonerate us, when really we need to look a bit closer home for the underlying reason.

In any case, if the NIB example is anything to go by, trying to prosecute anyone will take 20 years - what's the point (unless you a barrister prosecuting and/or defending) ?

Herd mentality and groupthink? Not here. No siree.

jpd said:

I think you are missing one of the important points he made - the problem of herd mentality and groupthink, not just in the banks and institutions but in a lot of Irish society.

Click to expand...

What's to miss? That wasn't as obvious as everything else in the report?

It was obvious to me nearly a decade ago, and I'm hardly an economic wunderkind.

This Country is obsessed with reports.

+1. Yet another report out today - McCarthy Volume II. The first report was clear, concise, logical, factual and contained many recommended actions. So, ignored by the Government, who did the usual and commissioned a second report.

I skimmed over this for a while and agree with other posts that it is another totally superfluous report. I think Sunny said it best, this country really is obsessed with reports, especially those that dilute the blame and point out a scapegoat.

What baffles me most about the report is that on numerous pages, starting on page 19, the author identifies the huge amounts of money flowing into Ireland and the "expansionary financial incentives", as well as the access to large amounts of international money after joining the Euro, but this is not analysed further. Let's look at the "expansionary financial incentives" that came with membership of the EMU. From January 1999 until December 2007 the Euro's base money supply (M1) grew from €1809.2 billion to €3831.9 billion, an increase of 212% in an 9 year period. M3 went from €4451.1 billion to €9525.1 billion, or an increase of 214%.

What I am trying to point out is that you can have unlimited herd mentality, but this would still not have created an asset bubble of this or any other proportion if the money supply had not been increased by such a huge extent. Banks borrow money at one end and lend it out at the other, that is their business. Yes they took on too much risk, but this was only possible through the "expansionary financial incentives" of the ECB. This is something the author completely ignores (NB: I only read the sections of the document that contained the word Euro or ECB, so I have to admit that I may have missed something).

The mandate of the Commission did not include investigating possible criminal activities of institutions or their staff, for which there are other, more appropriate channels. Under the Act, evidence received by the Commission may not be used in any criminal or other legal proceedings. The Commission has not investigated any issues already under investigation elsewhere.

Instead, the Commission used its limited time and resources to investigate, as its Terms of Reference specified, why the Irish financial crisis occurred.

Click to expand...

Nyberg

Why did we need a third report at a cost of €1.32 million to summarise what we were already told in 2 previous reports?

Who commissioned the Nyberg report? Why were the terms of reference so limited?

Marion