Was Ireland's banking crisis caused by good old-fashioned peer pressure?
Bankers in Ireland just wanted to be loved, or at the very least liked.
Many have been at a loss to explain just why, really why, Irish banks decided to plough so much money into the property sector, creating a bubble that exploded in such devastating fashion.
AIB chairman David Hodgkinson last week called it a "collective madness" and while the new (and very long) report from Finnish financier Peter Nyberg into Ireland's banking crisis points to a herd mentality among the banks - if Anglo's making so much money, why can't we? - it was also down to the psychology of individuals working in the banks.
The Commission points to "widespread herding", "groupthink" and even "disaster myopia" within the banks during the height of the crisis. Or really, good old fashioned peer pressure.
Yes, heavy targets were set by the powers that be and unquestionably pursued by the majority of bank workers. But did anyone really care?
Bankers were encouraged to view their employer as "family" which, according to the report, "may have hindered critical thinking and overall risk assessment". Any contrarian views were "often not appreciated and only occasionally sanctioned", it says.
"It appears now, with hindsight, to be almost unbelievable that intelligent professionals in the banking sector appear not to have been aware of the size of the risks they were taking. There may, of course, have been awareness, but evidence does not support this."
Surely, though, with the image of the greedy banker now as synonymous with Ireland as a pint of Guinness, money must have been a dominating factor?
Sadly, it's not as simple as that. While Nyberg conceded that financial incentives "contributed to the rapid expansion of bank lending", he adds:
"It was claimed by a number of bankers that management and staff were not motivated by compensation alone. Most would compete, it was claimed, as they had during the previous period of lower compensation, on the basis of natural competitiveness and professional pride."
In other words, give a salesman a target, however ridiculous, and they'll strive to be the best in their peer group.
