President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday claimed credit for “immense” progress towards tighter financial regulation at the G20 summit, saying the agreed reforms “turned the page” on a dominant model of Anglo-Saxon capitalism.

The French leader refused to wait for Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister and summit host, to conclude his closing press conference and rushed to tell the French media that his objectives had been met and even surpassed. “To tell the truth, it is more than we could have imagined,” he said.