An Irish Banking Manifesto: The Views of a Disenchanted Former Banker, by Tim McCormick

Since the financial crisis broke in Ireland there has been a clamour for a full explanation for how and why it happened. The various accounts to date have focused on the role of the Financial Regulator, the Government and the economic cycle, but little attention has been given to the lending behaviour by the banks.

Various journalists and academics have provided valuable insights to the problem, but what is missing is a perspective from the inside. Tim McCormick spent eighteen years in Irish banking in the 1970s and 1980s before spending a similar length of time training Irish managers in finance at the Irish Management Institute.

In An Irish Banking Manifesto McCormick argues persuasively that the primary cause of the financial crisis was the behaviour of the bankers themselves – reckless lending, a pursuit of profit at all costs, a total disregard for their customers and the public at large, an insidious bonus culture that clouded their judgement, and an arrogant belief that they were somehow superior to all and deserved their extravagant rewards.

Having castigated the bankers’ poor performance, McCormick then sets out a clear reform programme that will ensure such behaviour cannot be repeated and which will allow us to regain confidence in Ireland’s banks.

‘Of all the books written so far about the Irish banking crisis, this one has the greatest authority.’ – Shane Ross, TD, from the Foreword

About the Author

From 1973 to 1990 Tim McCormick worked in investment banking in Dublin (originally Northern Bank Finance Corporation, later National Irish Investment Bank and now part of Danske Bank) and for the following twenty years ran financial courses with the Irish Management Institute. He continues to work in the financial industry as a consultant. He is the author of Strategic Cost Reduction: How to Cut Costs without Killing Your Business and has written over 20 articles for Accountancy Ireland, several of which focused on banking issues.