German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to address a key conference on global financial reform in Berlin Thursday - 48 hours after her government shocked markets by banning risky financial instruments, according to dpa. The conference, at which French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Michel Barnier are also due to speak, is an attempt to forge a common position on financial regulation ahead of a G20 summit in Canada next month. Representatives from the G20 nations - which include leading industrial nations as well as emerging economies such as Brazil, China and India, will be present Thursday to debate the proposals. On Tuesday night the German financial regulator, Bafin, moved to outlaw so-called naked short selling and the naked short selling of Credit Default Swaps (CDS). Markets fell across the world Wednesday in reaction to the news. The German government is now leading European efforts to stamp much greater authority on the financial markets, the excesses of which are blamed for causing the two-year global financial crisis. Merkel also blames speculators for worsening the 2010 eurozone debt crisis. The German government has thrown its weight behind the proposal for a global Financial Transaction Tax - which is aimed at cooling excesses on the markets and creating a fund for possible future emergencies. The conference comes one day before the German parliament is due to decide on the country's participation in the 750-billion-euro (915 billion dollars) rescue system, with Berlin being the largest single national contributor with a possible involvement of up to 148 billion euros. The opposition have demanded more clarity before they would back the bill.
