Germany will host a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in May to focus efforts on reforming financial regulation in the wake of new U.S. proposals for governing banks, a finance ministry spokesman said.

In an interview in Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said proposals made last week by U.S. President Barack Obama have increased the chances of coming to an international accord.

It is important that we do not relax our efforts now internationally, he said in comments to be published on Sunday.

We'll also bring our own ideas to this debate, he said.

Earlier German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that finance ministers, central bankers, and experts from the G20 developed and emerging nations would be invited to the conference, to be held in Berlin toward the end of May.

The goal will be to accelerate coordination within the group, the magazine reported, adding that Germany wanted to prevent countries from working on financial oversight alone.

(Reporting by Brian Rohan; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Germany Barack obama G20