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(Adds detail on JPMorgan)
By Pamela Barbaglia, Valentina Za and Sinead Cruise
LONDON/MILAN, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs,
JPMorgan, Citigroup Inc, Credit Suisse
and other banks have curbed trips to Italy amid fears that the
coronavirus outbreak across the north of the country could
quickly spread across Europe, sources said.
Lazard, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank
also rushed to warn staff against all "non-essential
travel" to northern Italy, four sources told Reuters, speaking
on condition of anonymity as banking policies are confidential.
Bankers working on sensitive deals were told to seek special
permission from top management if they still wanted to fly into
Milan, Bologna or other northern Italian towns, the sources
said.
Goldman said its travel restrictions applied to Italy's
Lombardy and Veneto regions, as well as to South Korea. It also
advised staff against travel to, from and within the rest of
Italy.
Both JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs told staff across Europe,
the Middle East and Africa that they needed to isolate
themselves and stay away from the office for at least 14 days if
they had recently returned from northern Italy.
JPMorgan stressed that regardless of any flu symptoms people
who had recently visited Italy's most impacted municipalities
would need to follow a 14-day quarantine.
Japanese bank Nomura was first to adopt a rigorous
approach by restricting client visits to all countries with
coronavirus cases, including France, one of the sources said.
"They are all grounded," this source said referring to
Nomura's bankers in Milan.
Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Nomura declined to
comment. Lazard was not immediately available.
Coronavirus infections have soared across northern Italy in
the past few days, causing almost 300 cases and 11 deaths.
It is the first time banks have restricted trips within
Europe as most financial institutions have so far only applied
travel bans to mainland China.
STUCK AT HOME
Nearly 300 people in Italy have come down with the virus
since Friday, latest data showed, the vast majority of them in
the wealthy northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto.
Most financial institutions have told their employees living
near the affected areas to work from home rather than the office
and postpone business trips.
Morgan Stanley, Lazard and Barclays have
empty offices in Milan as most staff are working remotely, three
other sources said.
Credit Suisse has also encouraged local bankers to stay home
and avoid face-to-face client visits, they said.
The banks declined to comment.
Milan-based Mediobanca and UniCredit
issued statements to emphasise their respective commitment to
keeping employees safe at home.
French banks BNP and Credit Agricole urged Italian
staff to limit business trips, rely on "smart working" and
suspend training activities and internal events.
Italian private equity funds including Clessidra SGR and
Armonia SGR, as well as state-backed funds Fondo FSI and Fondo
Italiano d'Investimento, have cancelled their planned attendance
at the SuperReturn conference in Berlin where they were set to
talk about buyout deals in Italy.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Tuesday the
economic fallout from the outbreak could be "very strong" but
said he was hopeful the contagion would soon come under control.
"I can't say I'm not worried ... but I'm confident we'll
have a containing effect in the next few days," he said.
(Reporting by Pamela Barbaglia and Sinead Cruise in London and
Valentina Za in Milan; Additional reporting by Maya Nikolaeva,
Chibuike Oguh, Stephen Jewkes and Clara Denina; Editing by
Alexandra Hudson and Alistair Bell)
