Better competitiveness in finance won't mean deregulation, says UK minister

LONDON (Reuters) - Steps being taken to improve the competitiveness of Britain's financial sector will not translate into deregulation or radical changes, financial services minister John Glen said on Tuesday.

"It won't be about deregulation and looking to a race to the bottom as perhaps some anticipated," Glen told a TheCityUK event.

The finance ministry is reviewing a surcharge on banking profits in light of a separate move to raise the United Kingdom's general corporate tax rate.

The ministry has yet to announce the outcome of its review, but Glen said there was a recognition that Britain needs to be competitive.

Britain has set out potential reforms to improve efficiency and cut costs in capital markets now it has a free hand to set its own financial rules after the country's full departure from the European Union last December.

Glen said it was his sense that people were looking for "modest, incremental changes, rather than radical change".

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Jon Boyle and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)