British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday changes had to be made to pay and incentives in the financial sector that he said helped trigger the credit crisis.

"There's been a great deal of irresponsibility. Mistakes have been made in the city," Brown told BBC television. "There's an element of the bonus system that is unacceptable ... Everyone knows there is going to have to be changes in that."

Brown said the Financial Services Authority in Britain was examining how pay structures should work in the banking sector.