Goldman Sachs' reported spending on EU lobbying rises 14-fold

Goldman Sachs has revealed a 14-fold increase in the amount it says it spends on lobbying in Brussels after the EU strengthened its disclosure rules.

The US investment bank spent between €700,000 and €799,000 on lobbying in Brussels in 2014, according to its entry in the European Commission's transparency register. This compares with the estimated €50,000 it says it spent in 2013 on lobbying in Brussels.

The increased figure follows the introduction of tougher rules that banned commission officials from meeting companies unless they were on the institution's transparency register by December 1. Goldman joined the register at the end of November.

New rules also require companies to include a proportion of trade association fees in their lobbying spending disclosures, said a person familiar with the matter.

These rules have also been followed by sharp increases in the spending reported by other financial services companies. Deutsche Bank said it spent almost €2m lobbying EU institutions in 2013, rising to €4m in 2014, according to its latest filing.

Goldman's opening of a new office in Brussels last autumn also affected the disclosure, although the bank had decided to join the register before then, say those familiar with the matter.

Its outlay in Brussels compares with the $3.4m it said it spent lobbying the US government in Washington last year. That number has changed little in the past three years, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, but is down from a record $4.6m in 2010 when Goldman was under fire in the US Congress for its pre-crisis activities.

Goldman's filings with the US Congress say it employed nine external law firms and lobbying groups as well as eight in-house lobbyists, including Michael Paese, a former aide to the House financial services committee.

The spending is a little less than comparable financial services companies. Morgan Stanley shelled out $4.8m last year and JPMorgan Chase $6.3m.

But the monetary totals are an inexact measure of lobbying. Goldman's influence in Washington has been scrutinised for several years because there is a long history of officials and Goldman bankers going through the so-called revolving door between the two worlds.

Lobbying rules in Brussels were until recently relatively loose, leading campaigners to argue that some large companies were underplaying their efforts to affect rulemaking.

Campaigners from LobbyControl, Corporate Europe Observatory and Friends of the Earth Europe complained to regulators this year that Goldman had lowballed its 2013 estimate.

Vicky Cann, campaigner for Corporate Europe Observatory, said: "Goldman Sachs' former lobby register entry made it look like a bit player. In fact it has been active in EU lobbying for years, with access to the commission that other lobbyists could only dream of."

Although Goldman employs several government affairs staff, some of whom earn millions of dollars, the bank accounts only for the proportion of their time spent lobbying, as defined as narrowly as the rules allow. In the US, this means that John Rogers, Goldman's secretary, who is deeply involved in government affairs, is not listed as a lobbyist.

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