As Virus Roils London, Hedge Fund Star Bans Staff From Tube
As Virus Roils London, Hedge Fund Star Bans Staff From Tube
(Bloomberg) -- As the coronavirus finally hits London, some financial professionals are being evacuated from work, others are turning away coughing visitors -- and a famous hedge-fund manager banned his staff from cramming into crowded Tube trains.
Greg Coffey is offering to pay for all of his staff’s taxi rides to and from Kirkoswald Asset Management after forbidding them from taking the subway system, according to a person familiar with the matter.
UBS Group AG joined the ranks of big banks dusting off emergency facilities -- and barred anyone from its main London office who admits to having flu symptoms. The Swiss firm has been testing a backup site near Heathrow Airport in Hayes, West London, a person with knowledge of its plan said.
In Canary Wharf, HSBC Holdings Plc evacuated part of its office Thursday after a staffer was diagnosed with the virus. Dozens of the worker’s colleagues, said to be in the bank’s research department, have been asked to work from home. S&P Global Inc. -- also based in Canary Wharf -- ordered all London staff to work from home until further notice after a visitor was diagnosed with coronavirus.
Firms are grappling not only with keeping their staff safe, but maintaining the integrity of the financial system at a time when critical staff may be off sick and the rest may be exiled to little-used emergency trading venues they’re unfamiliar with. Government officials said Thursday that the number of cases in the U.K. jumped to 115 people, up from 85 the day before.
Regulators are keeping a close eye: the European Central Bank is asking lenders about their ability to keep computer systems functioning, and Britain’s financial watchdog warned firms Wednesday not to scrimp on maintaining compliance standards.
The contingency plans could bring traders far away from their usual digs in the transport system’s Zone 1 and 2. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is testing backup trading operations in the south London neighborhood of Croydon, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. is preparing for potential staff moves as far away as Basingstoke, 45 miles southwest of the capital, Bloomberg News has reported.
Citigroup Inc. held a town hall meeting earlier Thursday in London to reassure staff that they are ready for all virus-related eventualities.
For now, HSBC’s traders in Canary Wharf are staying put. The bank said the non-evacuated floors at 8 Canada Square are operating as normal. That includes the trading area, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who said the evacuated floor housed staff in the research department. About 10,000 staff work in the building.
Coffey, the Australian-born hedge fund manager, made the decision to pay for taxis to ensure that staff come into contact with as few people as possible during the outbreak, according to the person familiar with his thinking who requested anonymity.
Health Declaration
Other firms, too, want their staff to avoid the crowds. More than half a dozen investment firms skipped a Goldman Sachs fund conference on Wednesday, according to people who attended the event. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment.
London Stock Exchange Group Plc delayed the March 13 India Securities Summit, according to a spokesman. It hasn’t provided a new date.
At UBS in the City of London’s Broadgate, a Bloomberg reporter was presented with a declaration form to certify that a visitor is in good health. Guests must say whether they have any respiratory symptoms, if they’ve visited blacklisted countries, and if they’ve come into contact with a coronavirus patient. Any positive answer means no entry.
Elsewhere in Europe, institutions in more countries are implementing travel bans after an initial restriction on movements to Italy, the hardest-hit country. The European Banking Authority, one of the region’s most senior regulators, suspended all travel for its staff and canceled meetings taking place at its Paris headquarters for the next week.
--With assistance from Harry Wilson, Eddie Spence and Alaric Nightingale.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nishant Kumar in London at nkumar173@bloomberg.net;Viren Vaghela in London at vvaghela1@bloomberg.net;Stefania Spezzati in London at sspezzati@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell
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