NEW YORK, Could 26 (Reuters) – Lazard Ltd (LAZ.N) mentioned Peter Orszag, a banker and former White Home official, will take the helm as its chief government officer on Oct. 1, when Kenneth Jacobs steps down after 14 years within the high job on the funding financial institution.
Jacobs will turn into the 175-year-old agency’s government chairman, specializing in consumer relationships.
Orszag, who joined Lazard in 2016, at present leads its monetary advisory enterprise overseeing offers.
When he takes the reins, Orszag will get rid of that function and reassign his duties to others throughout the agency, he mentioned in letter to its greater than 3,400 staff, calling on them to show the financial institution into the “go-to vacation spot” in finance.
“We should always intention increased,” he wrote.
Lazard was ranked No. 7 within the listing of high deal advisers for the primary quarter, up from No. 9 final yr, in response to Refinitiv.
It’s the newest Wall Avenue agency to set out management modifications. Final week, Morgan Stanley (MS.N) CEO James Gorman mentioned he would step down inside a yr and turn into government chairman, with three candidates within the working to succeed him.
In contrast, JPMorgan Chase & Co’s (JPM.N) chief Jamie Dimon mentioned he had no plans to go away the most important U.S. lender after working it for 17 years.
The management change is available in a troublesome yr for dealmaking amid financial uncertainty. Lazard reported a shock loss within the first quarter as exercise slumped. Jacobs warned in April of an unsure outlook for the remainder of the yr and introduced plans to chop about 10% of the corporate’s workforce.
Most just lately, Orszag suggested First Republic Financial institution earlier than the lender was seized by regulators and offered to JPMorgan earlier this month.
Orszag was previously a vice chairman at Citigroup Inc (C.N). He additionally served within the Obama administration as director of the Workplace of Administration and Funds, and earlier than that, because the director of the Congressional Funds Workplace.
In latest months, he has represented Lazard at trade conferences and in media interviews.
The chief has a level in economics from Princeton College and a Ph.D. in economics from the London College of Economics.
“Peter has confirmed to be a strategic, visionary and decisive chief, with deep relationships throughout the trade,” mentioned Richard Parsons, the financial institution’s lead unbiased director who beforehand served as Time Warner CEO and Citigroup chairman.
Orszag has the “capacity to successfully lead Lazard by way of evolving international markets and sophisticated geopolitical dynamics,” Parsons mentioned.
Reporting by Lananh Nguyen; Enhancing by Paritosh Bansal and Sonali Paul
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