Consumers are not to blame

Matthew Lynn

Simpler financial products would help put a stop to the series of scares that have beset the industry over the past few years

British consumers are illiterate when it comes to financial matters and should go back to school, at least in the opinion of two financial bosses. Callum McCarthy, head of the Financial Services Authority, recently lamented what he said was the illiteracy of the average British consumer. At the same time, probably coincidentally, Neville Richardson, head of Britannia Building Society, chimed in with a call for finance to be made a compulsory subject at school. So why the outburst from these two distinguished financial heads? McCarthy pointed out that regulators such as himself, and the co...