The group extends guidance on geopolitical matters to clients as well as colleagues, like the asset management arm's sprawling salesforce. The firm is making a series of changes to ramp up its asset management business. Lazard has had an asset management business for decades, but it's a business that's finding new relevance on Wall Street. Incoming Lazard CEO Peter Orszag, pictured here in May, has made improving the asset management business a priority. "When it comes to the asset management business, the picture is probably more blurry," said Richard Bruyère, managing partner of the Paris-based asset management advisory firm Indefi.

---

Persons: Lazard, Evan Russo, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Peter Orszag, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, it's, Russo, Orszag, Ray McGuire, Jennifer Ryan, Goldman Sachs, Brennan Hawken, Richard Bruyère, Bruyère, Ryan, Hartley, Morgan Stanley, Janus Henderson, Ashmore, Devin Ryan, AllianceBernstein, Larry Cohen, " Russo, Peter Organizations: Lazard, BlackRock, Citi, New York, North, Incoming Lazard, REUTERS, UBS, Investors, Firms, Virtus, Liontrust, Bank's JMP Securities Locations: Russia, New York, Washington, North America, Paris, Taft, Asia