UPDATE 1-Fresh look needed at financial rules -FSA's Sants

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By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Huw Jones

PARIS, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A fresh look at the financial market architecture in light of the current crisis is warranted but a global approach was needed, Britain's top financial market regulator said on Monday.

"There is clearly a strong case to be made for changes to the rules," Hector Sants, chief executive of the Financial Services Authority, told a conference on regulation. Regulators from across the world are holding intense talks on how to make a financial system that knows no border safer amid the worst market crisis in over 80 years.

Reforming the rules without reforming wider issues such as corporate governance would be to no avail, Sants said.

There was also a need to fairly and uniformly apply financial rules, Sants said.

"They have to be global in nature and they have to be flexible," he added.

Sants told Reuters that consumer confidence in Britain towards the UK's banks, many of whom have posted huge losses due to the crisis, was improving.

However, he said there were still areas where financial regulation could improve.