World leaders must press ahead with plans to tighten regulation of financial markets if they want to restore confidence to a battered global economy, France’s finance minister said on Thursday.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Christine Lagarde suggested that the US and UK were so focused on propping up their financial systems and reviving their economies that they no longer regarded bolstering supervisory standards – one of the main aims of the G20 summit in London on April 2 – as a top priority.