Germany to only nationalise HRE bank

PRAGUE (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said on Saturday he saw no reason to nationalise any German banks other than stricken lender Hypo Real Estate HRXG.DE.

Germany's Bundesrat upper house of parliament approved a law on Friday that permits the state to expropriate shareholders in financially troubled banks under certain circumstances. The law was agreed mainly to allow the government to take over Hypo.

Asked by Reuters how many more banks, if any, Germany would have to nationalise, Steinbrueck said: "As far as I can assess it, and some experts, none."

Turning to financial supervision in Europe, he added: "We have to find out which European institution might be a European supervisory authority. I'm a little bit in favour that the ECB could be the best authority."

"But I think for the very near term we have to improve cross-border supervision," he added.

(Reporting by Paul Carrel)