by Lananh Nguyen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Peter Orszag, a former White House banker, will take over as chief executive of Lazard Ltd from October 1, the group announced, taking over from Kenneth Jacobs, who has been in the job for 14 years, and who will become the group executive chairman.

Peter Orszag, who joined Lazard in 2016, previously worked for Citigroup Inc and also served as director of the Office of Budget Management under President Barack Obama in 2009-2010.

He currently heads the financial advisory arm of Lazard.

When he takes over as chief executive, Peter Orszag intends to phase out that role and reallocate his current duties to others within the company, he said in a letter to Lazard’s more than 3,400 employees. .

“We should aim higher,” he wrote.

Lazard jumped from 9th to 7th place this year in the ranking of banks for their transaction advisory business in the first quarter, according to Refinitiv.

Lazard’s leadership change comes as the bank reported surprise first-quarter losses. Current chief executive Kenneth Jacobs warned in April of an uncertain outlook for the rest of the year and planned to cut the company’s workforce by 10%.

The appointment of Peter Orszag is the latest announcement in a series of changes at the head of the banks. Last week, Morgan Stanley announced the resignation of James Gorman as chief executive within the next 12 months, after 13 years at the helm of the bank.

In France, Slawomir Krupa took the reins of Societe Generale on Tuesday, where he succeeds Frédéric Oudéa, in office for 15 years.

(Report Lananh Nguyen; Zhifan Liu, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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