U.S. may soon lose financial superpower status: Germany

London, Sept.25 : The United States will lose its status as a superpower of the world financial system and must work with its partners to agree stronger international rules to regulate markets, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has said.

Speaking in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament on Thursday, Steinbrueck said the financial crisis would leave "deep marks" and proposed eight measures to address it, including a ban on speculative short-selling and an increase in bank capital requirements to offset credit risks.

"The world will never be as it was before the crisis," Steinbrueck told parliament, adding that "The United States will lose its superpower status in the world financial system. The world financial system will become more multi-polar."

In stark language, Steinbrueck lay the blame for the crisis squarely on the United States and what he called an Anglo-Saxon drive for double-digit profits and massive bonuses for bankers and company executives.

Investment bankers and politicians in New York, Washington and London were not willing to give these up," he said.

"Wall Street will never be what it was," Steinbrueck added.

ANI