Coronavirus cripples travel plans, postpones industry events
Some at-risk employees are being asked to work from home or attend virtual meetings
As the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus nears 100,000 and deaths caused by the virus exceed 3,200, the financial services community is responding with varying degrees of preemptive actions to limit the impact on employees.
While most companies, both large and small, are closely monitoring guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, some firms are being more cautious than others in their efforts to avoid exposure.
On Tuesday, The Institute of International Bankers announced it is postponing until July its annual conference that was scheduled for next week in Washington.
“In the interest of ensuring everyone’s well-being and recognizing the significant demands on IIB members’ time as they deal with contingency planning at their own institutions, we think it is best to look forward to July,” an IIB spokesperson wrote in an email.
The highly contagious virus, which has spread to 90 countries in less than three months, has hit 13 U.S. states so far, infecting at least 80 people and causing 11 known deaths.
Global banks and wealth management shops, like Morgan Stanley, appear to be taking the coronavirus seriously, while some U.S.-focused firms are taking a wait-and-see approach to the pandemic.
Outside the United States, for example, Morgan Stanley is permitting only so-called business-critical travel, and has postponed or restructured some events, including hosting some virtually.
Staff and visitors to Morgan Stanley offices and events are required to inform the bank if they have traveled in mainland China, Iran, Italy, Japan or South Korea in recent weeks, according to a source familiar with the bank’s operations. If they have traveled to those countries or been in close contact with anyone who has traveled to these countries within the last two weeks, they will be asked to make alternative arrangements and will not be permitted into Morgan Stanley offices or events during the 14-day window following the trip, said the source, who preferred to remain anonymous.
On the other hand, a spokesperson for LPL Financial, the largest independent broker-dealer, said it had nothing to share when asked about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on its business operations. A representative for Cetera Financial Group, another large IBD network, said that as of Wednesday, the firm had not restricted travel, but it had increased its business continuity planning.
At Raymond James Financial Inc., any associates or employees who have recently returned from countries identified as higher risk will work from home for 14 days or more, according to a company press release Friday. The firm is also asking associates, clients and partners who have traveled from high-risk areas to not attend any Raymond James event or meeting.
Until further notice, Raymond James has also suspended business travel to higher risk countries including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Grounded flights
Mark Tibergien, head of the RIA custody business at BNY Mellon’s Pershing, said the virus has radically reduced the amount of employee business travel.
“We’re adhering closely to what other banks are doing,” he said. “We have a moratorium on plane travel and attending big events, and we’ve been consulting with physicians and experts on how to proceed.”
Mr. Tibergien said domestic travel is limited to “business-critical reasons,” and international travel requires executive-level approval.
At the financial advisory firm Captrust, chief technology officer Jon Meyer has been leading a critical response team to develop contingency plans for 650 employees in 50 offices around the country — while still enabling them to serve clients.
“We have not limited travel thus far, but we are looking closely at changes and are prepared to if we have to limit travel,” he said. “We know there are several hot spots in the country where there are clusters of incidents and we don’t want people traveling there, and we also have people in some of those hot-spot areas and they would not be allowed to travel to other offices.”
Business continuity
Mr. Meyer said Captrust is focusing on everything from the way food is stored and delivered inside the offices to adapting its four document-fulfillment centers so that production isn’t shut down if an office cannot be staffed due to quarantines.
The Vanguard Group has introduced travel restrictions for China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Taiwan, Macau, Singapore and Iran. There is also a 14-day work remote requirement for individuals who recently returned from any of those countries known to be hot spots for the virus.
A Vanguard spokesperson said the company has also ceased all cross-border business travel between Vanguard offices “for the foreseeable future.”
“Cross-border business travel to non-Vanguard sites will be permitted only for the most essential needs,” the spokesperson said. “Vanguard has also limited all large-group gatherings and has instructed crew to cancel any plans to attend non-client or non-business essential events, such as industry conferences.”
The official policy at Northern Trust is that “all non-essential international business travel has been halted,” including among company offices, company spokesman Tom Pinto said in an email. The company has also employed “social-distancing strategies” that include limiting large-scale face-to-face meetings and leveraging technology for virtual meetings whenever possible.
Fidelity Investments has adopted certain travel restrictions and is encouraging employees living and working in impacted areas to work remotely.
“We have protocols in place for when an employee can return to work if he or she has traveled to the countries or regions where we have seen significant COVID-19 infection rates or if he or she develops any flu-like symptoms following travel,” said Fidelity spokewoman Sophie Launay Hansell.
March 5, 2020: This article has been updated to include Raymond James Financial’s response.
InvestmentNews senior columnist Bruce Kelly contributed to this report
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