* UK's Brown says banks stabilised, focus needed on growth
* Brown concerned about reserve levels
* More consensus needed on reforming financial institutions
(Adds quotes, background)
By Keith Weir
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - Global banks have stabilised since the economic and financial crisis hit last year, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday, but work still needs to be done to ensure a return to economic growth.
"I think we're at a point where the banks have been stabilised, but we don't yet have a strategy for a full return to growth," Brown said ahead of a seminar with economists to discuss international financial reform in the run up to the G20 summit in Pittsburgh in September.
The British economy shrank more than twice as quickly as expected in the second quarter, data released on Friday showed.
Brown said an issue he intended to bring up at the seminar was foreign currency reserves, saying large holdings were not always good.
"I want to raise the issue of reserves, the holding of substantial reserves, which may not be wholly to the benefit of growth in the world economy," he said in introductory remarks open to a small group of reporters.
China has the biggest stockpile of foreign reserves in the world, much of it in dollar assets. The United States is pressing China to boost its domestic consumption in order to help ensure balanced growth around the world.
CONSENSUS ELUSIVE
Brown said there was work to be done on getting global agreement of reform of institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), created in the aftermath of World War Two and now cast in a central role in helping to fight recession.
"We would like to be able to report to the G20 in Pittsburgh that there was a growing consensus on the need for reform of international institutions so that they can meet all these new tasks for a global economy," he said.
"That demands a great deal more consensus than there is at the moment and we would have to work very hard to achieve it," he added.
"But I think there is the makings of an understanding between the emerging market countries and America and Europe about what could be done."
Brown said his talks with economists on Friday would also look at the issue of imbalances and the deadlock in the Doha round of world trade talks.
"What I'd like to explore this morning is the short-term, medium-term and long-term changes that we have got to make so that we have a world economy that is capable of growth in the years to come," he said.
Brown chaired talks of the G20 group of rich and emerging markets in London in April at which $1.1 trillion was pledged to combat the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
U.S. President Barack Obama will chair the next summit in Pittsburgh to review progress. Brown will present a report to the meeting on reform of international bodies. (Editing by Luke Baker and Andy Bruce)