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Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. will gradually start bringing traders back to its London offices in the coming weeks as UK leaders continue to craft plans to ease social distancing restrictions.
The firm will begin by restoring traders and other employees from its markets and securities services unit to its offices in London, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private information.
The firm has told employees in its investment bank to expect to continue working from home, according to the people.
Citigroup and its rivals JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have begun crafting plans for how to safely return employees to offices after sending them home in March to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Chief Executive Officer Mike Corbat has been adamant that his firm will be deliberate in returning workers to the bank’s offices around the world.
“You are not going to wake up one morning or one evening and see an email come in saying ‘Come back to work tomorrow,’†Corbat told employees in a town hall last month.
After two months of lockdown, the UK government is now seeking to ease restrictions in the days and weeks ahead to restart the country’s economy. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson laid out a tentative plan that would allow the “phased reopening†of shops beginning in June and potentially parts of the hospitality industry to be allowed to open in July.
Citigroup earlier this month told workers it would allow an additional 600 people to resume working from its offices in Hong Kong after the city relaxed social
distancing measures.
The firm urged employees there to keep a 2-meter distance between each other “as much as possible†and urged them to stagger their commute to work and lunch breaks to avoid crowding.