* HSBC worker in London tests positive for the coronavirus
* UniCredit sends some staff home in Munich and Piacenza
(Adds more detail, ECB letter)
By Carolyn Cohn, Gianluca Semeraro and Lawrence White
LONDON/MILAN , March 5 (Reuters) - HSBC has sent more than
100 staff in London home after a worker tested positive for the
coronavirus, the first known case at a major company in
Europe's main financial hub.
Italy's UniCredit also told some staff to go home after two
new infections were reported among its employees - one in
Germany and one in Italy.
An employee in HSBC's research department in the
British capital self-isolated on Sunday, sources familiar with
the matter told Reuters.
The employee was later confirmed to have the coronavirus and
on Thursday morning the bank sent home more than 100 people from
the research department, a bank spokeswoman said.
HSBC has told staff who came into contact with him to work
from home as areas affected undergo a thorough clean.
"We have been informed that one of our employees at 8 Canada
Square has been diagnosed with COVID-19. This colleague is under
medical supervision and has self-isolated," the spokeswoman
said.
"All staff whose roles allow remote working have been told
they can work from home if preferred," she added.
HSBC's London office is in the centre of Canary Wharf, a
major financial district that hosts many investment banks,
including Citi, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and
Barclays.
HSBC's headquarters remains open, the bank said.
The European Central Bank has asked euro zone banks to
urgently test their large scale remote working arrangements, or
other flexible working arrangements for critical staff, a letter
dated Tuesday that was seen by Reuters showed.
NEW CASES AT UNICREDIT
Italy's UniCredit raised the number of its workers
infected with coronavirus to three on Thursday and sent home
staff who dealt with them.
In one of the incidents, the bank's German arm said a
contractor working in its Munich office had tested positive for
coronavirus and that it had told all employees who had been in
contact with the person to self-quarantine for two weeks.
The lender, Italy's biggest, said that another employee
based in the northern city of Piacenza had also come down with
the disease.
Italy has been hit harder by the coronavirus than any other
in Europe, with 107 deaths and more than 3,000 confirmed cases.
Both the Piacenza office, where the employee usually worked,
and a branch in the city where he had recently been are now
closed, the bank said in a statement
UniCredit contacted all employees who may have been in close
contact with the colleague who tested positive for the virus,
which originated in China, and advised them to self-isolate for
14 days. It said it would also contact all customers who had
been in the branch in recent days.
UniCredit said it had implemented measures to help contain
the spread of the coronavirus, including home working and the
ban of non-essential domestic and international travel.
Banks globally are readying out-of-town offices and
isolating some teams to ensure they can keep trading if
coronavirus spreads in more major financial centres.
In Spain, BBVA said on Thursday it had transferred
up to 100 staff from its Madrid trading floor to a location just
outside the city as part of its contingency plan to protect
operations from potential disruption related to the coronavirus
outbreak.
(Additional reporting by Julien Ponthus in London; Writing by
John O'Donnell, Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Timothy
Heritage)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)
Barclays (BARC)
