Tim Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, was talking “nonsense” when he warned that the world must follow America’s lead on financial regulation, said a senior European regulator and departing head of Hong Kong’s market watchdog.

Martin Wheatley, who has a reputation as one of the world’s most influential regulators, also said in an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday that US officials were wrong to worry that Asian financial centres would seek to attract business through soft regulation.

“To suggest that the US sets a gold standard that other markets should follow is nonsense,” said Mr Wheatley, speaking on the last day of his six-year stint as head of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission. “The global standard setters are Basel, the Financial Stability Board and Iosco [the International Organisation of Securities Commissions]; they are the bodies through which differences should be worked out.”