Poor numeracy skills have real financial consequences. If the City is to remain a financial powerhouse, we must address the nation’s deteriorating maths, writes Andy Haldane on National Numeracy Day

Financial services is a numbers game. Success in finance requires mastery of a wide range of skills, professional and interpersonal. But without a command of numeracy, and a sense of the balance sheet bottom line, failure beckons.

The UK, and the City of London in particular, is recognised as a global powerhouse for financial services, one of the jewels in the UK’s industrial crown. So is this world-leading role underpinned by world-leading levels of numeracy among the UK’s population? Alas not.

The UK’s numeracy problem

At the headline level, the UK scores reasonably on academic attainment for numeracy. The latest PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) scores placed the UK 11th internationally for numeracy, up six places since 2018. Beneath these numbers, however, lies a worrying pattern.

The UK’s........

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