More Banks Split Teams as HSBC Staff Get Work-From-Home Shifts

(Bloomberg) -- More global banks are executing their coronavirus contingency plans in London, with HSBC Holdings Plc and Nomura Holdings Inc. moving to split staff into different groups -- though neither bank has opted for a mass move out of the city center.

HSBC is breaking global markets and investment bank employees into two teams, according to a statement from the bank on Friday. One half will work at home or from the backup Southwark office at any given time, while the other half commutes to headquarters in London’s Canary Wharf.

Some Nomura traders at the riverside City office were split into separate floors, according to people familiar with the matter. While the Japanese bank continues to use backup operations 40 miles southwest in Farnborough, some traders preferred to stay in London because the journey and potential technological challenges aren’t ideal, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal plans. Nomura declined to comment.

The global death toll has topped 5,000 as governments around the world grapple with the challenge of containing the virus. While the U.K. authorities have abandoned efforts to contain the virus, focusing on delaying the worst of the outbreak, financial-services companies are grappling with policy as several offices cope with health scares.

On Thursday, Lloyds Banking Group Plc closed its main building in Edinburgh for cleaning after an employee tested positive, according to a spokesperson for the lender.

HSBC is following a similar, staggered, work-from-home plan to those implemented by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York.

From next week, Goldman Sachs has said it will fully activate its business continuity plan globally. In London, that means traders will primarily work from Croydon, south London, or the Plumtree Court headquarters in the City, a bank spokesman said. Other staff are rotating between working from home and coming into London offices; the spokesman said several hundred staff will be working in Croydon.

Carlyle Group Inc., the U.S.-based private equity firm, has sent all of its staff in Europe to work from home until further notice, according to a spokesman. All staff in U.S. offices are also working remotely, with small groups accessing the building for essential activities only, subject to approval. The office in Milan, the center of one of Europe’s worst outbreaks, is closed.

--With assistance from Heather Perlberg and Sonali Basak.

To contact the reporters on this story: Stefania Spezzati in London at sspezzati@bloomberg.net;Harry Wilson in London at hwilson57@bloomberg.net;Viren Vaghela in London at vvaghela1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.