Deutsche Bank, KKR Staff in Europe Infected, Upending Office
Deutsche Bank Says Employee in Frankfurt Office Has Coronavirus
(Bloomberg) -- A Deutsche Bank AG employee in Frankfurt and another at KKR & Co. in London contracted the coronavirus, setting off swift measures to contain potential outbreaks.
Starting Tuesday, Deutsche Bank will divide sales and trading teams at its affected offices in a building across from its main towers in Frankfurt. It’s sending some personnel to a recovery site until March 27 as a precaution, and some employees may be asked to work from home.
“Our colleague is in good health and good spirits but will remain under observation,” the bank said in an internal memo late Monday. “All employees who have had contact with the affected colleague were informed directly, and we will undertake deep cleaning on floors N1 and N2 and other areas in DBC.”
KKR said it’s temporarily closing both of its London offices to have them sanitized and that staff there should work from home until further notice. It’s requiring personnel who had close contact with the employee who contracted the virus to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
“This individual is at home and recovering well,” said Kristi Huller, a KKR representative. “We continue to monitor the situation and will adjust our response as necessary.”
At financial hubs around the world, major firms have begun splitting up key parts of their workforces to limit the potential for an outbreak to spread through a division, disrupting business or even markets. Banks as far apart as London-based HSBC Holdings Plc and San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. have confronted individual cases of the virus in recent days. At the same time, regulators are pressing lenders to accommodate the needs of clients affected by the illness.
Deutsche Bank began moving investment-banking staff in London to separate offices as another precautionary measure, the lender’s U.K. Chief Executive Officer Tiina Lee said in a Bloomberg TV interview Monday.
“We expect no impact on our ability to operate our full range of services for our clients and recognize that this setup will require extra effort and discipline from all,” Deutsche Bank wrote in its memo late Monday.
The Frankfurt-based lender said employees working remotely won’t be allowed at offices where they aren’t assigned and that staff should avoid meeting socially with any colleagues stationed elsewhere. The bank is also planning to take other “precautionary hygiene measures” to make the workplace safe.
KKR’s Huller echoed that.
“We are taking all necessary precautions, based on the advice from Public Health England, to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees,” she said.
--With assistance from Noah Buhayar.
To contact the reporters on this story: Steven Arons in Frankfurt at sarons@bloomberg.net;Heather Perlberg in Washington at hperlberg@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Mamudi at smamudi@bloomberg.net, ;Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Christian Baumgaertel
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