UPDATE 3-Steinbrueck says more market regulation needed
(Adds Steinbrueck comment on credit, paragraphs 10-11)
BERLIN, Sept 21 (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said on Sunday that there should be greater international regulation of financial markets in the wake of the financial market turmoil this month.
"I'm absolutely in agreement that we need more regulations in the financial markets," Steinbrueck, a leader in the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), told Germany's ARD television network, according to an advance text.
"I'd leave open at this point whether that means we'll have an international authority that will make the traffic rules for financial markets."
In a separate interview with ZDF television later on Sunday, Steinbrueck was asked if he thought the financial crisis was now over: "No, it's not over. No one can predict that. There are some very deep stress marks, especially in the United States.
"I've never played down the situation. The only thing I can say is that there are some facts in Germany that indicate that we're not battered the same way as in the United States."
On Saturday, Chancellor Angela Merkel indirectly criticised the United States and Britain for thwarting her government's previous attempts to tighten controls on financial markets.
Merkel, whose conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) rule in a grand coalition with Steinbrueck's SPD, said she was glad the United States and Britain now favoured tighter regulations.
Steinbreuck and Merkel had pushed for a common position on hedge fund transparency in 2007 when Germany held the presidency of the Group of Eight, which includes the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia.
Germany had expressed fears that hedge funds could threaten the stability of the financial system through their heavy reliance on borrowing to finance risky trading strategies. Germany also raised concerns about private equity funds.
In the broadcast of the ARD interview on Sunday evening, Steinbrueck also said there was sufficient liquidity in the German economy.
"We're not in a credit crunch," he said, reiterating an assessment made by the country's BdB private banks' association said on Thursday.
Steinbrueck added that European finance ministers have already taken steps to set up the Committee of European Securities (CESR), made up of the EU's 27 national securities markets watchdogs.
Steinbrueck said he expected Germans to increase their savings rates as a result of the market turbulence.
"A lot of people will save more and I expect the savings rate to rise," he said.
He added he was opposed to a stimulus package: "Part of that wouldn't go into domestic demand but instead into tourism, the purchase of foreign goods and services outside of Germany. I believe money for a national stimulus package would be wasted."
Steinbrueck also said he had information that German public sector banks have exposure to banks in the United States.
"I've received indications that public sector banks have been engaged up to recently in the American banks and in products in which one has to ask: why in this phase? -- as one should have learned something over the last 12 months."
ARD reported on Friday that four of the largest German public sector banks have an exposure of more than 1.7 billion euros ($2.47 billion) to Lehman Brothers LEH.N, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. (Editing by David Cowell, Gary Hill)
