But just when you think things can't possibly get any worse we learn that two of the region's oldest and most respected building societies have been forced into rescue mergers with neighbouring societies.

Yorkshire is already set to lose its biggest financial institution, Halifax Bank of Scotland, once the Lloyds TSB takeover goes through next year. The new superbank will be called Lloyds Banking Group, which will mean the demise of the HBOS name for good.

Scotland has been promised that Bank of Scotland's head office will remain in Edinburgh, but no such promises have been made to the thousands employed at Halifax HQ.

We've also lost Bradford & Bingley which is now tucked up alongside Northern Rock as the Government winds down the banks' mortgage books and slowly puts both lenders out of their misery.

But what are we to make of the shock announcements that Barnsley is being rescued by Yorkshire Building Society and Scarborough has fallen into the arms of Skipton? On the surface both Barnsley and Scarborough look like well run, prudent, sensible, stick-to-the-knitting lenders.

Without doubt Barnsley is a prudent lender, but where did this prudence go when it decided to invest £10m in two Icelandic banks?

Fair enough, when it first made this investment the two banks in question looked safe as houses and had top notch credit ratings but as early as February this year serious questions were being asked about how safe the Icelandic banking system was. Reports in February warned that some Icelandic banks were "headed for strife".

The warning came after credit-ratiing agency Moody's described Icelandic banks as "fragile" in January and made the unusual step of putting Iceland's entire banking sector under review.

Back in February Money-supermarket, the comparison site, advised savers to keep no more than £35,000 in any Icelandic bank.

And in July Government Ministers were warned about the possible collapse of Iceland's banks and the threat to depositors' cash when credit rating agencies downgraded them.

Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott and Tory MP Michael Fallon, deputy chairman of the influential Commons Treasury committee, both raised the issue with Ministers.

It's a shame Barnsley wasn't listening.

As to Scarborough, it too looked like a prudent lender.

So why was it offering high risk products such as buy-to-let, adverse credit and self-certification – which has been slammed for encouraging people to lie about their salaries.

These are the same products that brought Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley to their knees. They are areas that more prudent building societies wouldn't touch with a bargepole.

So yes it is a great shame that both Barnsley and Scarborough are losing their independence after more than 150 years, but neither are entirely blameless.