Goldman Sachs CEO Criticizes EU’s Overbearing Regulations

- Goldman Sachs CEO: EU regulations overly complex, costly. - Calls for streamlined rules to boost growth, cross-border activity. On June 24, 2025, Reuters reported that Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon urged the European Union to reconsider its extensive regulatory requirements. In a June 24 opinion piece in Les Echos, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon described these regulations as “overbearing, duplicative, and costly,” arguing the current regulatory framework hinders growth and complicates cross-border activity. Furthermore, Solomon stated this framework places the bloc at a competitive disadvantage compared to the U.S. and other economies. Solomon pointed out that many perceive Europe's financial system as an investment barrier, a perception he attributed to national-level regulations, overlapping reporting obligations, and slow progress on capital markets and banking union reforms. In his June 24 Les Echos opinion piece, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon also suggested that reducing these “unwieldy and ineffective structures” would signal the EU's commitment to efficiency and economic growth. Additionally, he highlighted a significant challenge in the EU: the ability of individual countries to veto reforms to protect narrow national interests, which Solomon believes weakens the bloc's economic, financial, and geopolitical power. Solomon's remarks come at a time when European initial public offerings are lagging behind those in the U.S., and he emphasized that member states need to help build long-term capital pools. Such pools, he argued, would better finance public and private markets. Earlier in April 2025, Solomon had also warned that the prevailing policy uncertainty was detrimental to investment and growth. Other prominent figures have also recently criticized EU regulations. For instance, on June 9, 2025, a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Elon Musk stated, “Radical deregulation is necessary in Europe. If that means leaving the EU, it means leaving the EU.” Similarly, Argentinian President Javier Milei recently remarked that Europe serves as a prime example of how regulations can stifle economic growth by killing increasing yields. In separate regulatory developments, the EU is progressing with new rules for the crypto-asset sector. According to reports from May 2025, the EU's Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) will set measures to track cryptocurrency transfers, which will involve gathering data on both senders and recipients to increase transparency. Starting July 1, 2027, these regulations will prohibit crypto exchanges and custodial services from dealing with anonymous wallets and privacy coins like Monero and Zcash, and will also mandate checks for self-hosted wallets, requiring verification for transactions over €1,000. However, critics, including Monero developer Riccardo Spagni, warn these regulations could drive privacy-focused firms to other jurisdictions and hinder innovation. Additionally, the European Commission recently adopted delegated regulations under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR). On March 10, 2025, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer issued reports, with further updates provided in February 2025, detailing new rules for Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) concerning complaints handling and business continuity. These regulations aim to enhance transparency and fairness by requiring CASPs to establish structured, free-of-charge systems for client complaints, accessible in multiple languages. Furthermore, the Delegated Regulation on Business Continuity mandates robust continuity plans that management must regularly review. In February 2025, The Official Journal published additional MiCAR delegated acts, and on June 5, 2025, the European Commission adopted new ones. As of June 24, 12:00 UTC, according to CoinMarketCap, Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $2,560, with a 1.8% increase in 24-hour trading volume.