Goldman CEO urges Europe to cut red tape

Bengaluru/New York — Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon on Tuesday urged Europe to reconsider its “extensive” regulatory requirements that he says place an unnecessary burden on companies.

“Europe remains an outlier in terms of the extensive — often overbearing, duplicative and costly — obligations it places on firms,” the CEO of the world’s second-largest investment bank wrote in an opinion piece in French newspaper Les Echos ahead of a board meeting in Paris this week.

The region’s financial system, often seen as a barrier to investment, has been criticised for its national-level regulations, overlapping reporting obligations and slow progress on capital markets and banking union reforms.

Companies, analysts and investors have argued that the rules raise costs, complicate cross-border activity and put the bloc at a disadvantage to the US and other major economies.

Solomon said one of the EU’s biggest challenges is that individual countries can veto reforms to protect narrow national interests, a dynamic that he argued has consistently weakened the bloc’s economic, financial and geopolitical power.

“Reducing or eliminating unwieldy and ineffective structures and processes will send a loud message that the EU is focused on efficiency, results and economic growth,” Solomon said in his opinion piece.

His comments come as initial public offerings in Europe trail the US due to weaker valuations and patchy investor demand.

“Member states need to play their part in building the pools of long-term capital needed to channel financing more forcefully into both public and private markets, where much of the economic activity in Europe is now happening,” Solomon wrote.

In the first quarter, Goldman earned the highest fees from advising clients on deals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa region, according to data from Dealogic.

It was ranked second by revenue earned in the region's overall investment banking league tables. Goldman’s London office, its largest in Europe, is the headquarters for its international operations.

Reuters