moneysupermarket.com: Skipton and Scarborough merger

Commenting on the forthcoming merger between the Skipton and Scarborough building societies, Kevin Mountford, head of banking at moneysupermarket.com, said: "Whilst this is being presented as a merger between the Skipton and the Scarborough, it is clear that it is really a bail out of the latter. Whilst this is good news in the short term for Scarborough's customers, in the longer term it is a further reduction in diversity and competition on our high streets and consumers will be the poorer for it. It has been a bad few weeks for financial services in Yorkshire, with this rescue coming hot on the heels of the Barnsley's tie up with the Yorkshire and today's announcement that the merged HBOS / LloydsTSB business will be called Lloyds.

"One of the lasting impacts of the credit crunch is that British high streets will never be the same again."