Apollo Global chief says Europe ‘at war with itself’ over finance regulation

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Mark Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management, said Europe is “at war with itself” because over-regulation of its financial sector is stifling growth and undermining competitiveness with the United States.

Rawan, who co-founded the New York-based private capital group, said that Europe has made little progress in implementing the reforms necessary to secure investment and revive the faltering economy in the region.

“I see Europe as somewhat at war with itself in terms of financial regulation,” Ruane told the Financial Times Private Capital Summit.

“On the political side, you have all the signs of risk-taking, equity trading and private markets. [But] On the organizational side, not so much.”

“There are a lot of problems to look at in the United States,” Rowan added. “Every problem we have in the United States is worse here.” [in Europe]”Every problem.”

Mario Draghi, former president of the European Central Bank, last year warned of an “existential challenge” if the continent did not improve its productivity, laying out nearly 400 recommendations in a landmark report on competitiveness.

Private capital firms have seen an opportunity to provide capital to finance European infrastructure projects to boost productivity.

Apollo and its competitors Blackstone, KKR and Brookfield plan to significantly increase investment in the region over the next decade.

FT interview with Mark Rowan

Apollo recently loaned billions to Intel to build a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Ireland, and financed EDF’s construction of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in the UK and a major power grid project with German energy company RWE.

“My own predictions — and our expectations as a company — are that on a relative basis, Europe will grow faster than the United States in terms of private capital because it needs it more,” Rowan said.

He said European companies and governments are embracing private capital groups to increase the competitiveness of their technology sectors.

“They don’t want to be, as I saw the word this morning, a technology colony,” Rowan said. “They want to be leaders – they want to actually have their own infrastructure, their own defense base, their own everything. And to do that, you’re going to need massive amounts of capital.”

While the billionaire financier made harsh criticism of Europe, he also said President Donald Trump had made no progress in improving US public finances, an issue he and other major investors described as the main economic risk to the world’s largest economy.

Rowan, who was once a contender for Trump’s treasury secretary job, said the president “absolutely never” made any change to the U.S. debt or deficit.

“In the United States, we were running big deficits, we were accumulating debt, but our budget is basically an arithmetic problem,” he said.

“The desire of politicians in the United States, I would say [in the UK]In Europe, and in almost every Western democracy, doing something fundamental outside of the crisis is nothing.