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Potential Human Biases in the Irish
Banking Structure: Weighing Risk
versus Incentives.
Hubert Newell 1768896
MSc International Banking and Finance
January 2014
Dublin Business School
(Word count 15,853)
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Contents Page Pages
Title page 1
Contents page 2
Illustrations/tables 3
Acknowledgements 4
Abstract 5
Chapter 1 :Introduction
1. Background/Research Problem 6
2. Suitability of the researcher 6
3. Recipients of the Research 6
4. Research Objectives and hypotheses 6
5. Dissertation Approach 7
6. Dissertation Plan 7
7. The Scope and Limitations of the research 7
8. Contributions to the study 7
9. Threats 8
Chapter 2: Literature Review
1. Charlie Munger- ‘Psychology of Human Misjudgement’ 9
2. Nassim Nicholas Taleb 9
3. Daniel Kahneman/ Amon Tversky 12
4. Irish studies related to the Banking Crisis 12
5. List of Potential Human biases and there definitions. 14
Chapter 3 : Research Methodology
1. Research Questions 15
2. Research Methodology 15
3. Research Philosophy 16
4. Research Approach 18
5. Research Strategy 18
6. Research Choice 19
7. Time Horizon 20
8. Data collection Method 20
9. Sampling Selection 21
10. Research Ethics 22
11. Research Limitations 22
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Chapter 4 :Data Analysis and Findings
4.1 Interview 1 22
4.2 Interview 2 24
4.3 Interview 3 25
4.4 Interview 4 29
4.5 Major points from interviews 31
4.6 Evidence of Biases 32
4.7 Table – Incentives versus risk 34
4.8 Table – Awareness of Tendencies 35
Chapter 5 : Conclusions 36
5.1 Summary 36
5.2 Compare and Contrast 38
5.3 Recommendations 39
5.4 Further Thoughts 40
6.0 Bibliography 42
7.1 Appendix first interview 44
7.2 Second interview 51
7.3 Third Interview 57
7.4 Fourth Interview 63
7.5 Costs 70
7.6 Confidentiality Agreement 71
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List of Tables / illustration
Research Onion (figure 1)
Incentives and risk table (figure 2)
Awareness of biases (figure 3)
Costing of Dissertation (figure 4)
Acknowledgements
Firstly I would like to thank my supervisor Andrew Quinn. He offered constant encouragement and
proved a terrific guide in terms of ideas. He was very engaging in discussion about the matter and his
enthusiasm helped me through the whole process.
Secondly I would like to thank Miss Nicole Gross for providing the initial classes on Research
Methods. She applied herself so thoroughly and wanted so badly to inform her students of the
grinding process that proceeding to do dissertation might entail.
Lastly I want to thank my family and friends for having the patience with me over the last few
months. It couldn’t have been easy but I hope it’s worth it now!
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Abstract
This dissertation is about the searching for potential human biases in the Irish banking
sector. It tries to find out how individual decision makers deal with risk versus incentives in
their day to day decision making. It involves interviewing bankers in different areas and
listening to their views and perspectives. From the study of the researcher in human biases
we try find out is there possible scenario’s where there is less than optimal/rational
decisions being made and are these decision makers aware of these biases.
‘Human biases’ comes from the relatively new study of behavioural finance and is inspired
by the studies of Kahneman and Tversky in the 1970’s. It has come into mainstream thought
particularly over the last 5 years because of the global financial crisis of 2008. The Research
involves trying to find out the decision making process of particular actors within banking
and using the literature as a reference to investigate possible areas of perceived bias.
This study involved a lot of listening to the views of the interviewees and how they viewed
their roles within banks. How they handled perceived risk and how did this compare to
other risk takers i.e traders. We tried to keep an open view whilst interviewing as we didn’t
know the ins and outs of procedures. We tried to open their eyes to potential biases to see
were they aware of them, how did they judge them and did this fit with their ideas of
fulfilling their jobs.
We tried to bring all these together and see if there were any conclusions of this. Did
incentives overly affect rational thinking? Who was the most risk conscious? Did they
understand ‘group herd’ phenomenon? Had much changed since 2008? How did they
explain the bank failure? And what would they do different?
The researcher hopes that this study will bring more light on the day to day decision making
of the bank official. How they weigh up risk versus incentives. The difficulties that lie
beneath making these choices and how perceived prudent procedures might not work so
well in the world. And maybe this study will show how middle to lower bankers are not
really in a position to alter targets or the way in which a bank is being run. But before this
study started we did not know what results would throw up and that added to the
enjoyment of this research.
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Introduction
1.1Research Problem
The background of this issue is related to behavioural finance in the banking systems.
Behavioural finance is a relatively new branch of study and that combines bits of economics
and psychology. Economic theory has traditionally assumed that all individuals were rational
in the choices but empirical research since the seventies led by Kahneman and Tversky has
proved this wrong. It has come into more focus since the global financial crash of 2008. What
this study was trying to see was is there human biases present in our own banking system or
more importantly if present are they aware of these biases. This study is highly subjective
and allows the interviewees to give their own point of view. It tried to weigh risk versus
incentives in the day to day decision making of bankers.
1.2 Suitability of the Researcher
I have studied Banking and Finance modules for the past year and this helped my
understanding of the financial world. I was a keen follower of the financial crisis of 2008 and
wanted to know more about its origins. I am a very keen reader of the riskiness of big
financial entities and have been inspired by the writings of Nassim Taleb. He forecasted the
big financial crisis of 2008 in the United States before it happened. I also have a high curiosity
for things related to psychology and read anything that satisfies that need with regards to
this.
1.3 Recipients of the Research
Hopefully the recipients of this study will be anybody that has an interest in the robustness of
our financial systems in Ireland. It could help people that are in positions of authority within
banking and more importantly people dealing with the incentive structure within banks.
Policy makers in government and how ‘moral hazard’ plays out in the day to day decision
making of bankers. But probably more realistically for this study, I hope it just touches the
fringes of this subject matter and will inspire more students/researchers to investigate this
topic with more depth.
1.4 Research Objectives and Hypothesis
I am interested in this topic because I think it is very relevant in today’s world especially
Ireland. The Irish government had to cover the losses of the Irish banks and I’m terribly afraid
this will happen again. A lot has been made about capital requirements and new stringent
rules passed by Basel III but not much attention has been given to individual decision makers
within the bank. I am convinced that a ‘Black swan’ event will wreak havoc on Ireland’s
banks sometime in the future again. A black swan effect was popularised by Taleb and
means an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately
rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight.
I also believe that banker officials do not truly understand the risk nearing positions they are
in. I also believe that there is an over-confidence in the public domain that a banking crisis of
this magnitude will not happen again in our lifetime. Although I do not see playing out the
same way but historically bank crises’ do happen that people think. We have an inability to
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learn that we do not learn (Taleb 2013) and the hindsight bias is ever present in Irish media
for trying to explain the recent banking failures.
1.5 Dissertation Approach
Well firstly the researcher set out by trying to find the best available literate on this subject in
Ireland and abroad. He studied the subject and tried make himself aware of the biases and
how these might potentially impact performance of some professionals within banking. He
tried to find out the perceived causes of the banking crisis in Ireland and tried matching them
with the available literature on behavioural finance. As this was all subjective one could not
possibly tell how these biases might play out until we interviewed the bankers themselves.
I then contacted friends and acquaintances and tried to organise interviews with people who
might add value to this study. The researcher tried to target people with a high level of
experience, high responsibilities and with an exposure to risk whilst performing their duties.
Before interviewing these people, the researcher tried to get a general background of their
job specification and tried to gear suitable questions from there. The researcher used
qualitative data analysis methods in collecting this data. The collected data will then be
interpreted in detail with a discussion of the data findings. The researcher then tried to refer
back to my literature and see could I extract any conclusions. I then proceeded to write up my
full dissertation from the literature review to the research methodology along with results
and conclusions until I concluded with a piece of research that I was content with. He
proceeded to added thoughts and recommendations to try enhance the study.
My approach to this dissertation is to keep an open mind when interviewing. Try approach
each interview with an open mind and try seeing things from the banker’s point of view. I
have to try keeping my own personal biases at bay and I did this by trying to think that these
individuals are in unfortunate positions.
1.6 Dissertation Plan
I will research all available literature that is out there with regards human biases as it relates
to finance. I will pay particular attention to Irish studies.
1.7 The scope and Limitations of the research –
As I was relying on the generousness of the individual bankers to be interviewed, I did not get
all of the positions I would have liked. I would have maybe liked to interview a top official
with responsibility for risk management or a member from the Central Bank/regulator to the
get there view on things. I wanted to see the use of VAR techniques in the day to day running
of the bank and how much importance is put on this but I didn’t get to that point.
1.8 Contributions to the Study
The major contributions to the study would be the individual interviewees. They supply the
raw data. I can research what literature is out there already but as they are the ones working
within the system, it is their opinions and experiences that make the study.
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1.9 Threats
A failure of a bank, lead to a greater probability of the whole banking system failing.
If you are in banking or lending, surprise events are likely to be negative for you. You lend
and in the best circumstances you get your loan back – but you may lose all your money if the
borrower defaults. In the event that the borrower enjoys great financial success, he is not
likely to offer you an additional dividend.
Banking in Ireland (Moody’s report on Ireland 2013)
Greatest single risk to the domestic economy is the ‘health of the banking system and its
ability to support the real economy’.
The long term viability of the banking system will depend on ‘boosting net interest margins,
which have been in decline for more than a decade and weaning off the banks still heavily
dependable on central bank funding’.
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Literature Review
Right I tried to research all things related to human biases in the banking structure. In the
end my research revolved around 3 authors. First was
Charlie Munger
He gave a speech to Harvard Law school about ‘The Psychology of Human Misjudgement’.
Mr.Munger is a renowned investor and Partner to Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway.
Although Munger is not a professor , he is an avid erudite and tried to link his background in
Law, his years of experience in investing and company management to try link the dots
together in these fields. He listed out 25 human tendencies and wanted the reader to try be
more aware of them. The ones that resonated well with this study and which I wanted to test
out were : Reward and Punishment Super response Tendency,
Linking/loving tendency, Munger (1995) states ‘man will generally strive, lifelong, for the
affection and approval of many people not related to him’. This had 3 general consequences
that : 1. ‘ to ignore faults of, and comply with wishes of, the objects of his affection,
2. to favor people, products actions merely associated with the object of his affection
3. to disort other facts to facilitate love.
This is justified in my research as there might be a time when liking someone interferes with
the smooth running of your professional duties.
Doubt Avoidance Tendency, Munger states ‘the brain of man is programmed with a tendency
to quickly remove doubt by reaching some decision’. He also goes on and includes that an
‘unthreatened man, thinking of nothing particular, is not being prompted to remove doubt
through rushing through some decision’ but when we get to ‘ Social Proof Tendency and
Stress- Influence Tendency that usually triggers Doubt Avoidance tendency in some
combination of puzzlement and stress.’ This is particularly important in this study from the
outset as many of the subjects have to make important decisions whilst not knowing all the
facts. Presumably to do their jobs successfully they would have to remove some doubts to
make these decisions quickly. It will be particularly interesting to see how interviewees see
this theory.
Reciprocation Tendency, – our sense of fairness will over ride our economic rationality. ( from
the definition site) . Munger (1995) introduces it by saying ‘the automatic tendency of
humans to reciprocate both favours and disfavours has long being noticed….the tendency
facilitates group cooperation for the benefit of its members’. Although this may seem
harmless when used for the benefit for society is particularly dangerous when it is isolated
and exploited. It hacks into the subconscious of the individual and could be particularly
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dangerous if bankers were the victims of such actions. The popularity of this tendency was
brought to life Robert C. cialdin in the book Influence , it was wrote to try protect innocent
victims of these tricks but it was also used by con artists and Car salesmen to try lure the
customer into buying something they may not necessarily want. The main point with the
researcher is that because bankers are in such a vulnerable position in lending out money
they should be aware, in the researchers opinion, of the potential to be tricked to doing
favours for others because they feel they must inside and outside the organisation.
Influence from Mere Association tendency, this one is self-explanatory and can be used to
great effect as it is usually under recognised and under rated. Munger (1995) states ‘some of
the most important miscalculations come from one’s past successes’. With bankers having to
assess the credibility of loaners, clients in private banking and new entrepreneurs the risk to
be swayed by previous success, the contacts they have and the way they are perceived is one
I hope the banks have systems in place so the human part of the process is limited.
Over Optimism Tendency, this tends to be generally well cited in reasons of banking failure.
But noticing it at the time of happening is one such thing and also to stop the spread of it as
yet has not been given a solution. Demosthenes, the most famous Greek orator, cited by
Munger (1995) that ‘man displays not only simple Pain avoiding Psychological Denial but
also an excess of optimism even when he is already doing well’. Bankers may be tired of
hearing the over optimism as a cause of the bank failures but one withers to think when
relative prosperity comes again in this country will any lessons be learned in this, with regard
lending.
Availability Misweighing Tendency – Munger (1995) starts the discussion on this with ‘Man’s
imperfect, limited capacity brain easily drifts into easily working with what’s easily available
to it’. The researcher thought that this may be a particular issue with the private banking
manager as he has people coming into him wanting to invest somewhere, and with property
being in such abundance in this country , would it be an issue that other classes of
investments would be ignored?
Authority-Misinfluence Tendency. Munger (1995) begins by saying ‘ automatic as most
human reactions are, with the tendency to follow leaders being no exception, man is
destined to suffer greatly when the leader is wrong’. This turned out to be a particular issue
within banking , as there was not much evidence of conscious thinking of how their job fitted
into the overall structure. By blindly following authority to further one’s career chances,
individual were alleviating any responsibilities with regards the risks they were creating or
how their decisions may impact the firm 10/15 years into the future.
These were the ones that I found were testable throughout the interviews.
The other person that greatly influenced a lot of this study was :
Nassim Nicholas Taleb:
His main point would be that if the bankers themselves do not lose out directly if the banks
go bust we will continue to have these problems (Taleb 2012). He advocates Hammurabi
code: (Taleb: video ‘Occupy wall street 2011’)
The aspect of the Code is often characterised as being “an eye for an eye” philosophy, but
Taleb argues that is not quite right. What it is really about is risk management. In a
functioning society risk and reward are good things, but only to the extent that there is
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symmetry; that if there is a downside to your actions, you must pay an equal price. Taleb
(2013) argues that ‘Banks have for quite some time been in the business of hiding risks, and
those who develop their strategies have done so safe in the knowledge, conscious or
unconscious, that if they win, they collect huge bonuses, but there is no come back on any
individual if the result of their actions is to wreck the bank, or indeed the country. The
banking crisis is thus the result of a flawed version of capitalism, in which there are no
consequences for those who gamble. What one needs therefore is not a new criminal offence
and an unwieldy and expensive show trial after the event, but to create a system which
creates this symmetry of risk. The potential for a “de-bonus”, so to speak’.
Black swan event: The theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2007) to explain:
1. The psychological biases that make people individually and collectively blind to uncertainty
and unaware of the massive role of the rare event in historical affairs
He argues that ‘Black Swan events are largely caused by people using measures way above
their head, instilling false confidence based on bogus results.’
He cites overconfidence in their own knowledge, misweighing of small probabilities having
unforeseen effects. He strongly accentuates that if banks are ‘too big to fail’ that they put the
nation state in a very vulnerable position. He wrote a best seller the Black swan, ‘The Impact
of the Highly Improbable’ back in 2007. Some of the points he made are:
‘Banks are a special case of fraud. Managers extort the states (banks periodically
loses more than all past cumulative profits, with losses covered by government) and the
game continues’
‘Banks are in the business of hiding risk. They pay themselves steady salaries and huge
bonuses, and when the accumulated risks the banks have hidden come crashing down, you
and I pay the price. In other words, gains are privatised and losses are socialized.’
‘Capitalism is all about incentives, but it’s also about disincentives’.
The banking crisis gave credence to Taleb’s philosophy. Bankers thought they could predict
the future. They wanted to make a lot of money very quickly and efficiently. Unbeknownst to
them unfortunately, this meant taking enormous risks and society paid the price.
Taleb (2007) also stated that the problem with banking system: Absence of claw backs
(people make profits hiding risk then get an annual bonus of values at year end when banks
explode 8-15 years. The mismatch between bonuses and frequency of blow-ups.)
‘While most human thought has (particularly since the enlightenment) has focused on how to
turn knowledge into decisions. My new mission is to turn lack of information, lack of
understanding, lack of knowledge into decisions, how as we will see, not be a turkey.’
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This statement has particular influence on all of this study as decision makers in the banks
are required to make decisions but sometimes under limited knowledge or understanding. If
bankers knew how limited their own knowledge was and over confident they are in the
projections they would be in a better place.
NNT – ‘optimism is highly valued. People and companies reward the providers of misleading
information more than they reward truth tellers’.
Unbiased appreciation of uncertainty is the cornerstone of rationality but it isn’t that what
organisations want. The admission that one is merely guessing is especially unacceptable
when the stakes are so high. Acting on pretend knowledge is often the preferred approach.
Black Swan world- error of successive and naïve specificity – ‘by focusing on the details of the
past event, we maybe diverting the attention from the question on how to prevent future
tragedies, which are still abstract in our minds.’ So what one might think as a significant risk,
might not be at all. By trying to predict the next black swan are we vulnerable to the ones we
did not predict?
Management’s understanding of sub-ordinates did anything stupid is strangled because of
an asymmetry of information (Taleb 2012)
Daniel Kahneman:
He talks about effects of high optimism in decision making. And people taking credit for
success but little blame for failures. Kahneman (2011): ‘Groups tend to be more extreme than
individuals! When diversity of thought disappears within a group of people, popular opinion
can feed back on itself and bubbles can be created.
Type 1 and Type 2 thinking. – Kahneman describes the two different ways the brain forms
thoughts:
System 1: Fast, automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypic, subconscious
System 2: Slow, effortful, infrequent, logical, calculating, conscious
Kahneman covers a number of experiments which purport to highlight the differences
between these two thought processes, and how they arrive at different results even given the
same inputs. Terms and concepts include coherence, attention, laziness, association, jumping
to conclusions and how one forms judgments.
From the studies of these empirical psychologists they have shown that humans have
unwarranted confidence in their decision making. Group think was mentioned and how to
stop it would be for everybody to think about worst case scenario for a loan and all potential
things that could happen.
Irish studies on the Financial Crisis
‘The role of Decision making biases in Ireland’s Banking crisis’ Peter Lunn
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PD Lunn ‘Groupthink usually refers to the tendency of individuals within a group to adopt a
group’s viewpoint rather than form an intellectual independent viewpoint.’
Commission for investigation into the banking sector in Ireland (Nyberg 2011)
o ‘Groupthink’ ‘herding’
o ‘ Regulators, central banks ,civil servants and politicians failed to protect the people
they served’ (Nyberg I think)
o ‘Misjudgements that were embedded in collective psychology’ ( Regling, Watson
2010)
o ‘Cognitive biases such as extrapolation bias, offer a more plausible explanation for
the observed behaviour.’ ( see barberis 2010, for theorethical overview)
‘In the review of remuneration policies and practices in Irish Retail banks/building
societies.’ Financialregulator.ie. Press release 01 December 2010.
‘Inappropriate incentive arrangements with bonus structures biased towards asset
acquisitions and rewards insufficiently tied to risk management particularly the management
of funding risk’.
‘Inadequate response to reform with remuneration’
‘Link between remuneration and risk management remains poorly defined poorly articulated
and poorly governed’.
There is little evidence that banks have self-consciously made a link between their risk
appetite and their incentive structures. This exposes banks and, by extension the State, to the
consequences of inappropriate risk taking;
The governance and oversight of remuneration practices is poor. Non-executives need to
step-up their scrutiny of remuneration arrangements, and in particular make sure that senior
executives’ remuneration is aligned to a bank’s willingness and capacity to take risk;
In the majority of banks, procedures to determine remuneration are not clear, well
documented or internally transparent. There was little evidence of consideration of risk, or
collaboration with risk management functions to ensure remuneration policies are aligned
with long term strategic plans;
Some banks are tightening their approach to paying guaranteed bonuses. There is also some
evidence of tightening of severance pay, with some banks imposing stricter conditions on
golden parachutes. There is, though, further to go
‘Banking supervision: our new approach’ centralbank.ie Banking
supervision 2011 update
Findings: ‘risk tolerance, objectives, values and long term incentives were not generally
reflected in the remuneration policies of most banks’
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From Hubris to Nemesis: Irish Banks, Behavioural Biases, and the Crisis. M
Dowling. B.M Lucey (September 2013)
He looks into the poor risk management by board of directors in Irish banks. He
talked about the social interconnectdness in Irish corporate boards. He states that
confirmation bias was a key issue with a degree of ‘overconfidence being learned’.
Crucially to the over enthusiasm of banking officials he finds evidence of ‘only 2
percent of bad news’ being mentioned in a CEO’s annual report for an Irish bank
prior to the crisis. This was alos evidence of strong attribution bias. M. Dowling cites
J Mercille (2013) in the very close relationship between the media and the financial
system in Ireland.
Direct quote from paper:
‘A final part missing from this analysis is the lack of awareness on the part of the Irish
bankers as to how behavioural biases might cause their major borrowers to act irrationally
before and after the advent of the financial crisis. This is, sadly, an aspect of lending often
excluded from the learning that bankers undertake before commencing their careers. A lack
of understanding of the biases of bank customers can lead to a bank taking risks that are not
actively managed – the standard bank risk management approaches might not be designed
to analyse some behavioural risks of borrowers’.
‘Relying on small data samples to extrapolate continuing price rises; home bias: displaying
excessive confidence and optimism about the home market; and herding: the tendency for
the thoughts of a socially interconnected group to converge’.
List of potential Biases and there definitions
Conformation bias – We interpret evidence to support our prior belief, and if all else fails, we
ignore evidence that contradicts it.
Economic Reflexivity- the way that the economy changes people’s behaviours, which changes
the economy.
Fundamental attribution error – we attribute success to our own skill and failure to everyone
else’s lack of it
Hindsight bias – were unable to stop ourselves thinking that we predicted events, eben
though we are woefully bad at predicting the future. It is the ability to explain the past, gives
us the illusion that the world is understandable.
Illusion of Control – we do things that make us feel in control, even if we’re not
Affect Heuristic- we use feelings not logic to make snap decisions, even when we don’t need
to.
Anchoring- our habit of focusing one salient point and ignoring all others.
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Limits of Attention- our ability to attend to multiple things and the way this is exploited.
Appeal to Authority- we tend to thoughtlessly obey those we regard as being in positions of
authority.
Bias Bling Spot- we agree that everyone else is biased, but not ourselves
Moral Hazard- If someone’s underwrites our failures we’re more likely to take risks.
Self-Enhancing Transmission Bias- people tell others about their success more often than
their failures and their listeners don’t take account for this ( see underwriter and private
banking manager)
Normalcy Bias- assuming that because something has never happened before, it won’t ( or
cant) happen in the future.
Restraint bias- Over estimating your ability to control impulses.
Bias Bias – the idea that you are less biased than you actually are.
Time Inconsistency: Systematic changes in individual preference over time whereby more
immediate rewards, become more disproportionately more attractive.
Extrapolation bias: where predicting future outcomes based on the past, placing more
weight on the most recent past.
Regret avoidance- attempts to explain why investors refuse to admit to themselves that
they’ve made a poor investment decision so they don’t have to face the unpleasant feelings
associated with that decision.
Availability Heusristic – tells you that your perception of risk is going to be proportional to
how salient the event comes to your mind.
Research Methodology and Methods
3.1 Research Questions
Are rewards and incentives properly aligned to help in the risk management process??
What potential biases might come into play whilst doing your job and are you aware of
them?
Does the banking structure encourage decision makers to pursue particular tendencies?
How do individual decision makers weigh risk v incentives?
3.2 Research Methodology
Using the research onion see figure 1, this will map and develop the research methodology for this
study. This will include selecting a suitable research approach, relevant strategies and philosophies
as well as the techniques involved in the collection and analysis of the data.
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Figure 1.
3.3 Research Philosophy
The first layer of the onion deals with the philosophical approach to conducting the research. The
research philosophy according to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007 p.101), “contains important
assumptions, these assumptions will underpin your research strategy and the methods you choose
as part of the strategy.”
Developing a philosophical perspective requires that the researcher make several core assumptions
concerning two dimensions: the nature of society and the nature of science (Burrell and Morgan,
1979). Society is viewed as unified and cohesive, whereas the sociology of radical change views
society as in constant conflict as humans struggle to free themselves from the domination of societal
structures (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). The other dimension, science, involves either a subjective or
an objective approach to research, and these two major philosophical approaches are delineated by
several core assumptions concerning ontology (reality), epistemology (knowledge), human nature
(pre-determined or not), and methodology (Holden and Lynch, 2004).
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Ontology is concerned with the nature of reality and assumptions researchers have about the way
the world operates and the commitment held to a particular view (Saunders et al, 2009).
Epistemology is concerned with the study of knowledge and what we accept as being valid
knowledge (Collis and Hussey, 2003). An Epistemological issue concerns the question of what is (or
should be) regarded as acceptable knowledge in a discipline (Bryman, 2004). According to Saunders
et al, 2007) there are three epistemological approaches to research philosophy: Positivism, Realism
and Interpretivism.
Positivism
The positivism approach is normally adopted by researchers that prefer to seek facts or causes of
social or business phenomena using logical reasoning such as precision and objectivity as methods of
investigation.
The positivism approach is normally adopted by a researcher that prefers to work with an
observable social reality in order to come up with law-like generalizations similar to those produced
by the physical and natural scientists (Remenyi et al, 1998), and in this tradition, the researcher
becomes an objective analyst, coolly making detached interpretations about those data that have
been collected in an apparently value-free manner (Saunders et al, 2003). Furthermore, the
emphasis is on a highly structured methodology to facilitate replication (Gill & Johnson, 1997) and
on quantifiable observations that lend themselves to statistical analysis (Saunders et al, 2003). The
assumption is that the researcher is independent of and neither affects nor is affected by the subject
of the research (Remenyi et al, 1998; Saunders et al, 2003).
Realism
Realism states that real objects exist independent of human consciousness, but that knowledge is
socially created (Saunders et al, 2007).
According to Blaikie (1993), whilst realism is concerned with what kinds of things there are, and how
these things behave, it accepts that reality may exist in spite of science or observation, and so there
is validity in recognising realities that are simply claimed to exist or act, whether proven or not.
Similar to interpretive, realism distinguishes that natural and social sciences are different. From an
organisational perspective, Hatch and Cunliffe (2006) describe the realist researcher as enquiring
into the mechanisms and structures that underlie institutional forms and practices, how these
emerge over time, how they might empower and constrain social actors, and how such forms may
be critiqued and changed. Realists take the view that researching from different angles and at
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multiple levels will all contribute to understanding since reality can exist on multiple levels (Chia,
2002).
Interpretivism
My research philosphy will be based on interpretivism. Not realism, pragmatism or postivism
because it believes in understanding human behavior rather than explain it. Saunders, Lewis and
Thornhill (2009) sustain that interpretivism:
“advocates that it is necessary for the researcher to understand differences between humans in our
role as social actors. This emphasizes the difference between conducting research among people
rather than objects such as trucks and computers” (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009, p. 116).
The improper matching of methodology to the research problem may produce spurious results and
may ultimately have negative impact on the researcher’s professionalism and the authority of this
research. We perceive that elasticity in “What to research?”,is gained only through an intermediate
philosophical position, thereby allowing researchers to match philosophy, methodology, and the
research problem.
3.4 Research Approach
My research approach is that of induction rather than deduction because I am not testing any
hypothese and do not know what results i will get. I am more interested in the way humans see the
world and maybe see different explanations for some things/ reasons than preceding theory would
give. Induction allows me to see the emotions that humans might attach to certain events and allow
me some flexibilty as well. As it is not a focused interview the questions and topics need to be fluid. I
want to get the subconsious feelings also out of the interviewees. This a very human based approach
Induction emphasises
– Gaining in the undertandings humans attach to events.
–
A close understanding of the research context.
–
The collection of qualitative data
–
A more flexible approach to permit changes in research emphasis as the research
progresses.
–
Less concern with the need to generalize.
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3.5 Research Strategy
The next level of the research onion is the research strategy. Sauders et al, (2003) describes the
research strategy as a generic plan guiding the way for the researcher to answer the research
questions set forth. Each type of research strategy could be used for all three purposes: Exploratory,
descriptive and explanatory (Yin, 2003). According to Collis and Hussey (2003), the types of research
strategy available are: cross sectional studies, experimental studies, longitudinal studies, surveys,
action research, case studies, ethnography, grounded theory, hermeneutics, and participative
enquiry. The claim that one research strategy is better than the other research strategy is a myth
(Saunders et al, 2007).
Elements of the research strategy for the human biases in the banking structure will involve
grounded theory strategies. Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007 p.142) “A grounded theory
strategy is, according to Goulding (2002), particularly helpful for research to predict and explain
behaviour, the emphasis being upon developing and building theory. As much of business and
management is about people’s behaviours, for example consumers’ or employees’, a grounded
theory strategy can be used to explore a wide range of business and management issues. In
grounded theory, data collection starts without the formation of an initial theoretical framework.
Theory is developed from data generated by a series of observations”.
3.6 Research Choice
My research choice will be one of Mono method.
Gaining access to Individual informants:
I want to immerse myself in the Chameleon Approach as in trying to ‘be one of them’. With
prolonged engagement, come more acceptance, understanding and insight. I will do this by dressing
informally, relaxed sociable voice and also converse about other interests before and after
interview. I do not need to try the other tactics as in using incentives as I know the interviewees. I
will not also use the tactic of emphasizing personal contribution and gratefulness as I do not the
subject to be overly concerned about their discussion or answers and just want the interview
process to flow naturally.
The researcher will choose Tactic 4 (Saunders et al 2009) of honesty and Openness when meeting
subjects. The researcher will address a range of issues openly and honestly to negotiate and
facilitate access. Will mention the procedures for reporting the study’s results, the time scale of the
research and the plans to anonymize the data (Shenton&Hayter, 2004)
Access to good sources = significant effect on nature and quality of data collected (Shenton and
Hayer, 2004). I know the importance of choosing the right subjects. As this project has only 4
subjects, I want to be careful in identifying people who want to express an opinion and are
interested slightly in these topics being discussed. It will be a mixture in a Non-Probability Sample.
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Convenience/Haphazard/ and Judgement/Purposive Sample: The benefits of this are ease of access,
no cost and good engagement. In this we sample with a purpose in mind. Sample is one that is
selected based on knowledge of the population and the purpose of the study. Those being
interviewed are fit a specfic purpose or description.
Validity
In semi-structured and in depth inerviews a high level of validity maybe achieved where these are
conducted carefully due to the cope to clarify questions to probe meanings and to be able to expose
responses and themes from a variety of angles (Saunders et al 2009)
Validity- 1.the extent to which data collection method or methods accurately mesure what they
were intended to measure. 2. The extent to which research findings are really about what they
profess to be about.
In terms of research ontology (nature of reality) the research will involve a subjective approach to
the study because the research will involve analysis of the banker’s interpretation of risk versus
incentives and their experiences and perceptions. The role of the researcher according to Saunders,
Lewis and Thornhill (2007 p.109) is to, “seek to understand the subjective reality of the customers in
order to be able to make sense of and understand their motives, actions and intentions in a way that
is meaningful
3.7 Time Horizon
An important question to be asked when designing your research project is ‘do I want my research to
be a ‘’snapshot’’ taken at a particular time or do I want to be more akin to a diary or a series of
snapshots and be a representation of events over a given period?’ This will, of course, depend on your
research question. The ‘snapshot’ time horizon is what we call cross-sectional while the diary we call
longitudinal.
The time horizon for this study will be cross sectional, the study of particular phenomenon at a
particular time. The time constraints of my course does not allow for a longitudinal study. The main
strength of longitudinal research is its capacity to study change and development (Saunders et al
2009). This type of study may also provide you with a measure of control over some of the variables
being studied.
3.8 Data Collection Method
In qualitative research, the researcher is the primary ‘’instrument,, of data collection and analysis.
Qualitative research has characteristics such as information being value laden and interpreted,
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researcher involvement with emergent and evolving style. The goal of Qualitative is uniqueness and
to develop patterns and theories for understanding
Interviews reveal information about the worldview of a single individual. This is a flexible strategy
that (with care) can be massaged during data collection as needed to heighten results. But
interviews are a time-consuming form of data collection. To gather data from one person requires
preparation, the time of the interview, and the time of transcription.
Qualitative data result from the collection of non-standardised data that require classification and
are analysed through conceptualisation. Qualitative data collect information as written or visual
images and report findings as words. Yet qualitative data collection is more than just conversations,
records, or observations. Rigorous collection and analysis of the words and pictures, gathered as
evidence about a topic, enhance the position of educators to build a convincing body of knowledge
on which to improve educational practices. Data will be collected by voice recorder and this will be
let known to all stakeholders. If there is a complication in accent and misunderstanding of words I
tried my best to clarify the issue. I let the interviewee know after, that I tracked body signals and
language and that I will be incorporating such things in to my findings. The advantages for me of
audio recording were it allows interviewer to concentrate on questioning and listening. It also
provides an accurate and unbiased record. The potential diasadvantages maybe ;it may adversely
affect the relationship between interviewee and interviewer. (Saunder et al 2009)
Qualitative coding is about data retention. My goal was to learn from the data, to keep revisiting it
till I could understand the patterns and explanations. So I needed to retain the data records, or the
relevant parts of them, until they were properly understood. Coding is not merely to label all the
parts of documents about a topic, but the aim is to bring them together so they can be reviewed,
and whilst thinking about the topic developed. Qualitative analysis can involve summarising,
categorising and structuring data. The process of data analysis and collecting are necessary
interactive.
The coding and the results will be purely set from me the researcher. I will inform the subject of the
process involved and how intend I to dissect it and turn it into results.
3.9 Sampling Selection
Sampling and selection are principles and procedures used to identify, choose, and gain access to
relevant data sources (Mason, 2002). A sample is “a smaller (but hopefully representative)
collection of units from a population used to determine truths about that population” (Field, 2005).
There are two types of sampling techniques: probability or representative sampling and non-
probability or judgmental sampling (Saunders et al, 2007).
“Non-probability sampling (or non-random sampling) provides a range of alternative techniques to
select samples based on your subjective judgement. In the exploratory stages of some research
projects, a non-probability sample may be the most practical.” Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007,
p.226). Therefore suitable selective samples are chosen within the industry as follows: a branch
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manager with over 30 years’ experience, a trader with 15 years’ experience, a head underwriter with
30 years’ experience in lending and underwriting and private bank manager with 35 years’
experience. These different backgrounds gave a very good mix of perspectives and insights and also
showed very well the thought processes which all of them go through. Convenience sampling also
features in this research into the Irish financial sector. The samples described previously will be
relatively easy to access and are also in proximity for the researcher in conducting the study.
Criticisms exist with convenience sampling based on the premise that there is bias in the samples
which are not representative of the complete picture. “Although this technique is used widely, it is
prone to bias and influences that are beyond your control, as the cases appear in the sample only
because of the ease of obtaining them. Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007, p.234).
3.10 Research Ethics
The ethical stance I pick is that of Pervasive ethical transgression – virtually all research involves
elements that are at least ethically questionable. This occurs whenever participants are not given
absolutely all the details on a piece of research, or when there is variation in the amount of
knowledge about research (Punch, 1994; Gans, 1962).
‘If the researcher is completely honest with people about his activities, they will try to hide actions
and attitudes they consider undesirable, and so will be dishonest. Consequently, the researcher
must be dishonest to get honest data.’ Gans (1962: 44).
I tried my very best to let the reader know what activities were done or what implicit or explicit parts
of the process had been undertaken. I was also very forthcoming with my interviewees and let them
know what will happen to information.
3.11 Research Limitations
Subjects might have been put off by the recordings. But I tried offsetting this by comfortable
surroundings and reiterating long standing relationship. Findings will be limited to subject’s
knowledge of particular areas. Although I was relying on the generosity of individual interviews to be
interviewed, they were very forthcoming about their honest assessment of situations. I would have
liked to interview someone in risk management but this could not be done. Questions were set to
try to be rich in information about things they will know, and keep in line with the things they might
be dealing with on a day to day basis.
Data Analysis and Findings (interviewer in red writing)
4.1 Summary of Interview with Trader (full interview in Appendices)
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They would lie to you. Its gas! I’d have lunch with CFO of Anglo in the middle of 2007 and
they’d say ‘everything’s grand!’ They were either not aware or plain stupid. I don’t know.
This kind of stuff always happened. Everybody was so invested.
Everyone has an incentive to keep the thing going (with regards to Irish banks reporting
huge profits)
‘Exactly! It happens in every business you know.’
Fear and greed are the two primary emotions!
Generally you wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise the firm. You were part owner of the firm
so I thought that was the best incentive of all. because it was relatively small, that felt a little
bit more real
If I was acting like a maggot and taking excessive risk I wouldn’t have been there in the first
place. I wouldn’t have lasted very long (evidence of survivorship bias)
It’s not all as simple as stocks and limits and how much you were willing to lose. ( common
financial theory not as clear cut in the real world)
Hiding risks?
Everything is so electronic. You couldn’t hide anything. No matter what you wanted hidden.
No matter what I did, there were probably 6 sets of eyes on it all the time.
Response to Group herd tendency?
You’re responsible for your own stock. I might bounce an idea of someone else but the buck
stops with you.
So that will come back to the team rather than the individual and we were incentivised as a
team rather than individuals.
Risk is everywhere. You can’t mitigate the risk away. You have to embrace it!
You have to play percentages. There’s a chance of rare occasion too. You have to accept
that. Every day you buy a position in a big stock, isn’t going to be the day that there is crash.
Perception of Bankers
They are not comfortable with any risk. Cultural mind-set!
Banks
They are trying to mitigate away all risk and just focus on earnings, assets under
management and safe enough recurring revenue.
Is lending cyclical?
So it’s totally a cycle, no doubt about it.
Anchoring to a target?
You would but you’re not. We all learn the hard way as you go up through the ranks, we all
took the big hits along the way, luckily enough we were able to make up what we lost. But
that’s what we do.
You as a trader would feel more emotionally attached to your positions?
But you are defiantly.
As a trader, it’s a constant battle, to check their emotions and fear and greed comes with
that.
Conscious of human biases when you’re trading?
You would and you wouldn’t. ‘Anchoring’ maybe yes. But you get better at it. We make the
same mistakes the whole time (answering Taleb’s thoughts on we don’t learn that we don’t
learn, the trader is probably the best at it)
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We don’t learn?
Because of whatever we’re chipped. It’s just in our DNA.
In hindsight we haven’t a clue on the quality of those books.
What would bank management tell you?
They’d tell you about work in progress, very little about quality. It was very much about the
number and how much have we committed to lend, so the bigger the number the better.
Were you ever sceptical of them? (CEO’s of Banks)
No you were not! They were the kings of the road. Why would you have been? Obviously it’s
easy to say it now. They were flying high, making loads of money.
Why did people trust them so much?
Because they were making money. We were all making money. There was great money
being made. Earnings were going up every year! What was the problem? Everybody’s your
friend when you’re making money.
Everybody believed the story?
There was hard cash being made also. They were highly profitable. They were built on a deck
of cards. But who knows. That’s markets, that’s the way it works.
4.2 Private Bank Manager
Description of Job?
To put portfolio’s in place that meet their needs over short , medium and long term.
I can advise and I can give the best of the information we have.
At the end of the day, the recommended strategy and the implementation of the strategy is
down to the client.
Financial Intelligence.
In the last 15 years, from what I can see is that people are a lot more up to speed or that bit
more knowledgeable to 15 years ago. They are requiring rationale and requiring an
understanding.
‘Fear of regret’ – The last thing I want is a client coming back and saying’ you never told me
this, you never told me that’.
Changing nature of the risk profiling of a client.
I’ve had clients who’d have had an appetite for risk 10-15years ago and that’s not the same
appetite for risk they’d have now.
Rather than knee jerk reactions when market cycles go down or people saying I don’t know
what I was getting into. (contrast mis-reaction tendency)
I remember back to the Celtic Tiger, where people thought property was a one way bet.
That you couldn’t lose on property. They didn’t realise all assets, all assets including cash,
bonds, properties, equities, commodities, you name it all have risk.
A feature of clients and Irish investor is that they would have invested in property and they
would have been individuals who would have had total knowledge or supposingly total
knowledge, in their own mind about property. Could the private banker fall for mere
association tendency here?
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I would still advise in relation to managing risk. You have to diversify. Diversification
referenced almost gospel like. You could lose all on the basis it has no spread in risk
I would call myself a trusted advisor.
You will never get it all right. But what you are trying to do is limit the downside and
maximise what you are trying to attain in returns and that’s really what we’re working with
our clients.
If it’s about selling a product I wouldn’t be in this business for 30 years, It has to be about
relationship.
What are you are trying to do is make sure they survive and not totally blow up. Awareness
of the volatile environment they’re dealing with.
We took a 20% loss. We got money back to the clients because they would have been in
there for 8 to 10 years. Example of being able to cut off a bad trade and limit the downside
to a bad decision.
If you go back to the Lehmans’ crisis, we had equity portfolios down 50%. Now someone
could come into me and say I want to get out of there. Now the worst time because of
emotions and fear is to get out of positions because of that. Because of the way cycles go
they can be quite dramatic. So it goes back to if you understand your risk profiling, and the
maximum and minimum these can fluctuate, you should have clients that are comfortable
enough with you, to be able to stand the heat in the kitchen, and not have the panic button
pressed.
So the modelling we do would be the expected returns on those assets and also in terms of
how we benchmark in institutions where risk/return studies are being done. Then it’s the
experience of success and measure of probability.
So everything goes toward how we can get to the set target, reducing the risk.
We try our best to bring down the risk weighting but also not bring down the return profile
in terms of set goals. So it’s all about the diversification and that’s fed into a single risk
model for our clients.
Crisis of 2008
Hopefully it will encourage a more diversified and global view of the wider opportunities
that are out there.
People saw property as a one way bet and it would never come down in price. They then
borrowed for it and it compounded the problem.
They want a safe pair of hands, with knowledge and expertise that is not betting the house –
Self attribution bias.
Most people would like to hear good advice. It’s like any advice you get from your solicitor,
doctor, dentist or whatever. What gives the Private bank manager the confidence to say
this?
My mantra is I want people to grow their wealth. One it’s a long term relationship. Two the
more they grow the more fees I probably get. So it’s in everybody’s interest.
4.3 Branch Manager (full interview in appendices)
