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* More banks send staff home as virus spreads in London
* Lenders cancel travel, split up trading teams
* Pragmatism reigns as some hedge fund staff return to work
By Lawrence White and Iain Withers
LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) - More than 50 staff at Societe
Generale's London office were working from home on
Friday as a precautionary measure against the spread of
coronavirus, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The French lender joined other banks sending staff home,
splitting up trading teams and activating backup offices in a
bid to contain the spread of the virus in Europe's biggest
financial hub.
The mood among financial firms echoed that of British
authorities, after Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said on
Thursday that the country was moving from the "containment" to
the "delay" phase of a four-stage plan to combat the epidemic.
Britain so far has 163 confirmed cases of the virus, which
has spread to more than 100,000 people worldwide and killed more
than 3,000.
Societe Generale declined to comment on how many staff were
working away from its office in Canary Wharf but said it has put
in place measures including travel restrictions, rotation of
staff, and working from home arrangements.
Commodity broker Marex Spectron also said late on Thursday
that one of its London employees had tested positive for
coronavirus.
It said the individual concerned had attended a Marex
Spectron-sponsored event during IP week, a major petroleum
industry gathering, on Feb. 25 in London.
Citigroup has sent 10% of traders who usually work in
its Canary Wharf office to a backup site in Lewisham, a source
familiar with the move said.
Banks including HSBC and Standard Chartered
have also convened committees of senior executives to
give daily briefings on the crisis.
Allied Irish Banks has cancelled a planned
post-results roadshow to London as a result of a ban on
non-essential travel and has conducted a deep clean of all
branches, Chief Executive Colin Hunt said in a radio interview.
"Earlier this week we introduced a ban on all non-essential
travel across the group, that's one of the reasons why I'm
talking to you this morning from Dublin and not London," he
said.
DON'T PANIC
The mood among financial firms was more practical than
panicked, despite the growing number of confirmed cases.
"Had a few hedge funds that went into full shutdown on
Monday because of coronavirus but then realised they were
over-reacting and went back into the office later in the week,"
said one hedge fund recruiter.
Staff in coffee shops in the Canary Wharf financial district
said business is down, but that they hoped for only a
short-lived disruption to normal customer traffic.
"We expect it to be quieter for the next few days," a worker
named Tahar in a Starbucks in Canary Wharf said.
An employee in a branch of the Notes coffee chain in the
financial area said business was down compared with the usually
busy Friday rush.
"People just want to be safe I guess, we are hoping things
pick up soon," she said.
(Reporting By Lawrence White and Iain Withers, additional
reporting by Clara Denina and Maiya Keidan in London, Padraic
Halpin in Dublin)
