The City will emerge stronger from the banking crisis, Gordon Brown pledged on Monday, despite calling for radical “surgical” reforms to global regulation to eradicate the malaise in the financial system.

“London in my view is the great financial centre, working with New York ... I don’t see that changing,” the prime minister told bankers in Canary Wharf. “London can ensure its position by making the changes I’m suggesting and emerge stronger in the long run.”