Financial services firms should be able to set up new “passporting” deals with countries outside the EU once they lose access to the single market, according to the head of an influential group of MPs.

Treasury select committee chair Nicky Morgan tells the Financial Times that while “passporting” – mutual authorisation for regulatory activities across the UK without additional requirements – “would end with Brexit”, passporting-type deals could be set up with other countries around the world.

As it stands, the UK is set to lose EU-wide passporting rights in favour of other long-term market access agreements.

On Friday, the committee is due to launch an inquiry on what we should prioritise going forward as Brexit impacts the relationship between UK financial services firms and the rest of the world.

Morgan says the committee’s mission is “to hold regulators and the City to account but also to highlight the City’s challenges and opportunities”.

She says: “We need to remind government of how important financial services are to our economy”.

The comments came as the World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos, where chancellor Philip Hammond said he was open to the possibility of another foreigner taking over from Bank of England governor Mark Carney when he steps down.

Hammond told interviewers: “We’re going to cast the net as wide as we can. We want to get the widest possible pool of talent. The process will start later this year.”