If banking is all about who you know, then Count Riccardo Pavoncelli will be a prized asset at Lazard. Pavoncelli, who joined from Morgan Stanley last week, was ranked 99th in the 100 most-invited list of society magazine Tatler last year and is as well known for his social credentials as he is for his banking expertise.

Pavoncelli, who does not use his ancestral title at work, hails from a 19th century wheat-trading family, and was married to Cosima von Bulow, daughter of Claus von Bulow, who was convicted, then cleared, of attempting to murder his wife in 1982.