Cast your eyes around the boardroom at Lazard’s Mayfair offices during the independent investment bank’s regular Tuesday morning meeting and the first thing that strikes you is the number of new faces. Lazard’s gene pool has undergone a shake-up, with about a third of the 20-plus London-based managing directors having joined since 2007.

Outside the UK the change is even more profound. Following the sudden death of chairman, chief executive and the group's largest shareholder Bruce Wasserstein last October, the firm went through a period of introspection.