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By Pamela Barbaglia
LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley is
shifting part of its London-based sales and trading staff to a
secondary site near Heathrow airport to ensure its trading desks
can operate smoothly through the coronavirus outbreak, two
sources familiar with the matter said.
The Wall Street bank tested the site, located in Hounslow,
earlier this week and is pressing ahead with plans to move part
of its trading workforce out of its Canary Wharf base, the
sources said.
The move comes as global banks take more sweeping steps to
contain the spread of the virus in Europe's biggest financial
hub, sending staff home, splitting up trading teams and
activating back-up offices.
Despite efforts to lobby regulators, banks have yet to
receive exemptions to connect trading desks remotely.
Trading room compliance - along with complex technology and
the need for high-speed connections - means trading desks cannot
just be operated remotely.
JPMorgan Chase & Co was the first bank to activate
contingency plans and split its sales and trading staff between
central locations in London and New York, and secondary sites in
Basingstoke - about 50 miles (80 km) from its London base - and
New Jersey.
Other banks including Goldman Sachs and Citi
are still testing secondary sites located in the London suburbs
of Croydon and Lewisham respectively, and may shift staff in the
coming weeks.
Some Barclays traders have been told to work at the
bank's Northolt site, about 13 miles from central London.
(Reporting by Pamela Barbaglia; Editing by David Goodman and
Jan Harvey)