Dunfermline Building Society in crisis with £26m loss

There is a burden that the FSCS places on all financial organisations, including sole traders and small IFA practices.

Many could argue that it's an unfair burden.

The "strong" have to bail out those who failed.

But if you are going to have a compensation scheme, who else should pay for it?

The building societies are claiming the shouldn't because they are whiter than white (which isn't true, as Cheshire, Derbyshire et al prove).

But using this logic, until 2008 the only organisations that should have paid in to the scheme would have been credit unions and the small IFA practices mentioned above - they were the only ones who ever failed.

Of course, when a big boy crashes (Bradford & Bingley), it becomes obvious why they all have to pay.

If you are going to have the scheme, everybody has to pay their share. And the FSA has to regulate the industry far better, working out how to ensure capital adequacy requirements reflect risk taking, without applying one size fits all approaches to a much needed free market.