The Irish Bank Officials Association has said 'relentless pressure' by bank management to achieve sales targets contributed significantly to the current crisis in the banking sector.
The IBOA says bank staff were constantly urged to sell more and more bank products to customers, which has left members of the public angry and disillusioned with all bank workers.
The association made the comments at the start of its biennial conference in Dublin.
IBOA President Larry Broderick said ordinary bank workers were as upset at the 'devastation' caused to Irish banks as were the general public.
'I would ask people who are angry at what has happened in our banks to channel that anger and send it to the very top, to the senior management who were in place when all this happened'.
'We represent 22,000 staff in banks throughout the island, and we want to be part of the solution. We want to be represented on boards of banks, and get back to basics, to the old style banking, where there wasn't a race to the top.
The conference also focussed on the rise in kidnappings for ransom of bank officials and their families.
There have been around a dozen such cases in the last two years.
The IBOA is calling for greater legislation from Government to punish the perpetrators of these crimes.
