Deutsche Bank deep cleans London office after coronavirus case

Edmund Heaphy
·Finance and news reporter
Updated ·2 min read
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 08: A security guard stands outside the Deutsche Bank building in central London as city workers walk past on July 8, 2019 in London, England. Deutsche Bank have started to make the first of a proposed 18,000 job cuts as part of a radical restructuring plan. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Deutsche Bank's London headquarters, on Great Winchester Street. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Deutsche Bank (DBK.DE) on Friday said that it was deep-cleaning a section of its London headquarters after one of its employees tested positive for coronavirus.

Some staff based at its Greater Winchester Street office have been told to work from home, the German bank said.

The employee, a Deutsche Bank spokesperson confirmed, had self-isolated on Monday, and tested positive for the virus on Friday.

The bank had already split its London-based investment bank teams between the Greater Winchester Street office and a back-up site in Southwark, a south London borough, after two Germany-based employees contracted the virus.

Read more: HSBC deep cleaning Canary Wharf office after coronavirus case

An employee at its Frankfurt headquarters tested positive for the virus in recent days, as did a staff member in its German branch network.

“We will increase our resiliency by splitting some trading teams in the UK into different locations across our main offices and our disaster recovery site,” Deutsche Bank said earlier in the week in a statement.

“Where needed and where permissible for their roles, we may ask some staff to work from home,” it said.

“Each of these working methods is tested and will be used proportionately. We expect no impact on our ability to operate our full range of services.”

Read more: Norwegian says half its staff could face 'temporary layoffs'

Last week, HSBC (HSBA.L) became the first major financial institution to experience disruption as a result of the outbreak, when it evacuated around 100 of its research staff from its Canary Wharf office.

One of its employees tested positive for coronavirus, the bank said, prompting it to clear and deep-clean a section of the 10th floor of its London skyscraper, where the investment bank’s research team is based.

Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing this week sought to reassure employees that the German lender would withstand the coronavirus fallout.

In a company-wide memo, he told staff that the bank was in “good shape as the positive momentum of the fourth quarter has continued.”

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