UPDATE 1-Brown urges IMF reform, global financial order

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BRUSSELS, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund must be reshaped to help regulate the world's financial system and avoid a repeat of the global credit crisis, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday ahead of an EU summit.

"The IMF has to be rebuilt as fit for purpose for the modern world," Brown said after talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

He also called for an early warning system for the international economy and more cross-border supervision of multinational financial companies.

Brown has led calls in the wake of the financial crisis for a review of the global financial institutions established by the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, arguing they are no longer fit to oversee this century's heavily-interlinked financial centres.

He praised the leadership of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Barroso and the Eurogroup of 15 nations that share the euro currency in coordinating joint bank rescue measures that appear to have halted a market collapse.

The European action plan was modeled on Brown's blueprint to save British banks through recapitalisation, guaranteeing interbank lending and injecting liquidity into frozen markets.

But Brown made clear his view that future financial architecture must be global rather than European and gave no indication that Britain would soften its longstanding hostility to more EU financial regulation.

"It is obvious now that we are dealing with global financial markets. Ten, 20 years ago we had national capital markets. What we do not have is anything other than national and regional regulation and supervision," he said.

"If we are going to sort out global financial problems that are recognised to be global, we need better ways of doing this."

Barroso said on Tuesday that the EU and the world must rethink financial regulation and supervision of banks, mortgage lenders, hedge funds and private equity.

He said last week that member states with the biggest economies and financial centres -- a clear reference to Britain and Germany -- had warned the Commission against proposing more European financial regulation before the current crisis. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; writing by Paul Taylor and Mark John)