Between the Lines: Societies face their own problems over lending

BOTH the Scottish and UK governments have been pinning the blame for the downfall of the Dunfermline Building Society on its managers. It is certainly true they made big mistakes. But this leads to the assumption that what went wrong was unique to the Dunfermline. It wasn't and isn't – building societies have a big problem and there may be more casualties before the sector gets on to a steadier footing.

Our natural inclination in Scotland is to focus on Scottish institutions and not worry too much about what is happening to others elsewhere in Britain. But a fairly startling fact is that, including the Dunfermline, a tenth of the 59 societies that e...