Gordon Brown's banking constitution could have prevented crash

Gordon Brown wanted to avert risk of fresh crisis. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The creation of a 'global banking constitution' was the vision which Gordon Brown believed could have prevented a future financial crash.

The former Labour leader said he pushed for “common global financial standards” while in office and reached agreements on paper at summits in London and Pittsburgh.

Institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Banks, forged in the post-war period, were now “out of line” with the interdependent global economy.

“I wanted to go further and create a global banking constitution that would set standards across the system to be applied in every financial centre in the world,” Mr Brown said.

“I wanted an international early warning system to identify and head of future crises.”

This would be the “premier forum” for global economic co-operation.

But he added: “In the end, delivering these proposals meant overcoming more obstacles than I had time left in government to surmount. And, just at the time I argued for enhanced co-operation, I found resistance to change was growing.”