Banks in Hong Kong have urged staff to work from home again as Covid-19 cases spikes, Bloomberg has reported.
HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citigroup, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale are the major banks that are either encouraging employees to work from home or instituting other measures.
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Some banks have also put their plans on hold to bring more people back to offices as the city tries to curb the spread of the virus, the report added.
HSBC, which employs 22,000 in the city, in a memo said staff is “strongly encouraged to work from home until further notice.”
The publication said that a spokeswoman for HSBC confirmed the contents of the memo.
In an email, a spokeswoman for Standard Chartered also confirmed that the bank has asked its employees to work from home if possible, with a “hard-split team” approach in place.
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By GlobalDataCitigroup spokesman James Griffiths confirmed that the lender has halted its plans to bring more people back to office.
He said that the bank will move from the current 50% to about 70% home-working.
According to Bloomberg, BNP Paribas is also reinstating a split team arrangement, through which it will gradually let some staff work from home.
In an email, Societe Generale said that it already has alternative working arrangements in place, including distancing and working from home.
Hong Kong has detected 40 new cases this week, bringing the total to 224 cases over the past week, Bloomberg’s report added.
