LONDON (AP) — Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown appealed yesterday for the restoration of integrity in the banking system, describing the return of trust as critical in creating a viable world economic recovery.

Brown told reporters in London that reforms must be put in place, including ones that address the question of the substantial bonuses banking executives have received for their work. Brown said remuneration for banking executives must be based on long-term success rather than short-term gain. "You can't have a financial system where you are rewarded for irresponsibility," he said.

Brown spoke as shares were rising yesterday in Asia and Europe following government actions to stabilise banks. Britain is making a major cash infusion into three of the nation's largest banks — a move that will leave the taxpayers as some of the institutions' largest shareholders.

Though the stake in each of the banks is strictly temporary, the subsequent transformation of the sector is on the scale of the postwar bank nationalisations in the 1940s and the privatisation of the industry in 1980s.

"We're in the first financial crisis of a new global age," Brown said.

In demanding a return to accountability, Brown touched on the need to reform international institutions to adapt to globalization. Britain's leader has long insisted that globalisation has made cross-border reforms necessary.

"I would have liked to move quicker on this," he said, suggesting that some of these changes should have been in place years ago.