Lzdard recruits former Chair of House Financial Services Committee
Lazard Embraces Future-Focused Strategy Amidst Growth and Appointments
Investment bank Lazard has announced a strategic shift, aiming to strengthen its financial advisory business, expand private equity M&A activities, and strategically reallocate assets towards emerging markets and technology sectors, particularly AI and energy transition. This move comes as the firm reports a robust financial performance and a series of strategic appointments.
Peter Orszag, Lazard's CEO, expressed optimism for both Lazard's investment banking and asset management businesses in 2025. Orszag anticipates an even more constructive environment for both businesses, with the aim of doubling earnings by 2030. To support this growth, Lazard hired 14 new Managing Directors in 2025, emphasizing talent acquisition to bolster growth, particularly in private equity M&A and high-margin financial advisory services.
The firm's Q2 2025 financials show a 20% year-over-year growth in financial advisory revenue, mainly driven by European market deals. Asset management continues to see positive net inflows and a steady increase in global equities, notably in emerging markets like South Korea and Taiwan, spurred by AI and semiconductor sectors.
Lazard's "Lazard 2030" strategy explicitly targets doubling revenue through energy transition and technology disruption. This strategy reflects an acute awareness of the political and economic convergence influencing markets. While the explicit mention of asset tokenization is not detailed in Q2 2025 earnings, Lazard’s engagement in thematic investments tied to next-generation AI technologies and hybrid funds signals a strategic openness to digital asset innovation and tokenization spaces, aligning with broader industry trends seeking to integrate traditional finance with emerging blockchain-enabled assets.
In addition to its strategic focus, Lazard has made several key appointments. In April 2023, the firm appointed Ray McGuire as its president. McGuire oversees strengthening relationships with senior clients, attracting talent, and expanding Lazard's global reach. Previously, McGuire was a vice chairman at Citigroup.
Investment bank Lazard has also appointed Patrick McHenry as a senior adviser, effective from Wednesday. McHenry, a former chair of the House Financial Services Committee, will help guide clients through complexities where business, politics, and global markets converge. McHenry is known for his support for crypto and backed legislation for more favorable rules for crypto trading platforms. Since stepping down from Congress, McHenry has been advising venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and payments company Stripe.
In November 2023, Lazard appointed Dan Schulman as its lead independent director. Lazard reported approximately $227.4 billion in assets under management as of March 31. The move will help Lazard launch a tokenized "fund of funds" that would give retail investors access to previously institutional-only global and emerging market equity funds. Lazard has been one of the top players to enter the asset tokenization space, aiming to create tokenized funds in collaboration with Bitfinex Securities and SkyBridge Invest.
In summary, Lazard's strategic focus is to leverage its core strengths in financial advisory and asset management while pivoting toward high-growth sectors such as AI, energy transition, and emerging markets, with an eye on innovation areas like asset tokenization. This approach is designed to navigate and capitalize on the increasingly intertwined business, political, and global market environment.
[1] Lazard Q2 2025 Earnings Release (https://www.lazard.com/-/media/Files/Lazard/Investor-Relations/Quarterly-Earnings-Calls/Q2-2025/Lazard-Q2-2025-Earnings-Release.pdf)
[2] Lazard 2030 Strategy Whitepaper (https://www.lazard.com/-/media/Files/Lazard/About-Lazard/Lazard-2030-Strategy-Whitepaper.pdf)
[3] Lazard Annual Report 2024 (https://www.lazard.com/-/media/Files/Lazard/Investor-Relations/Annual-Reports/Lazard-Annual-Report-2024.pdf)
[4] Lazard Press Release: Lazard Appoints Dan Schulman as Lead Independent Director (https://www.lazard.com/-/media/Files/Lazard/Investor-Relations/Press-Releases/Lazard-Appoints-Dan-Schulman-as-Lead-Independent-Director.pdf)
- The strategic focus of Lazard in 2025, as outlined in the "Lazard 2030" strategy whitepaper, aligns with general-news trends that underscore the intertwining of business, politics, and global markets, particularly in areas of AI, energy transition, and emerging markets.
- To navigate the increasingly complex environment where business, politics, and global markets converge, Lazard has appointed Patrick McHenry as a senior adviser, who is known for his support of crypto and backed legislation for more favorable rules for crypto trading platforms.
