Well we have interesting times here in the UK. My current account has been with Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBoS) and my mortgage is with Bradford & Bingley. This month both banks have seen their share price collapse and they have been taken over. On 17th September it was announced that Lloyds TSB was taking over HBoS. Now today I see that Bradford & Bingley is to be nationalised and sold (presumably at a firesale price to Banco de Santander or Barclays).

Ho hum! Well at least I have not seen a run by account holders with either bank. But I wonder if this bank consolidation will actually lead to more confidence in each other. It seems like no bank is willing to lend to another at present even though some have plenty of cash.

Demutualisation of friendly societies used to be trumpeted as one of the successes of British capitalism. Obviously account-holders who benefited from selling shares in the new 'mortgage banks' made a profit, however this took a safe, prudent set of societies who worked in the interests of their members into the brave new world of high risk banking. With hindsight we would have much less of a credit crunch here in the UK if there had been no demutualisation.