Lazards, the New York-based investment bank with French connections, says its private client business will not be affected by the recent lis...

Lazards, the New York-based investment bank with French connections, says its private client business will not be affected by the recent listing on the New York stock exchange. A spokesman in New York told WealthBriefing that the private client business will remain a key part of the business. Lazard listed last week after nearly two hundred years as a privately-controlled bank. Analysts say the listing will shift Lazard's centre of gravity across the Atlantic. “With headquarters in Bermuda and Delaware, and a board dominated by Americans, Lazard is changing continent. Its French connection will be reduced to its Parisian offices in Boulevard Haussmann,” a recent editorial in the Financial Times said. Lazard’s has around $17 billion of private client money under management, around 20 per cent of its total assets under management. A good deal of this money is managed by Lazard Frères Gestion, the French asset management subsidiary of Lazard.