While London’s biggest banks prepared for a widespread return to the office this month, the Delta Covid-19 variant forced many on New York’s Wall Street to push back plans.
Banks including Barclays, Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley expected a wave of employees to return to their UK headquarters over the course of the month.
Investment banks in the financial district of London and in Canary Wharf, opened their doors again after thousands of employees have spent nearly a year and a half working from home throughout the pandemic. Banks were hoping most staff will spend at least some of their time in the office during September.
Between 25-35 per cent of JP Morgan’s 11,000 employees in London have been coming into the office throughout the summer. Bank of America expect most UK-based staff to be back by the end of this month.
As of August 31, most UK employees at Citigroup will have spent three days a week in the office, while Barclays has also asked bankers to spend more time in the office from this month.
Fewer than 30 per cent of Morgan Stanley’s UK staff have been coming into the office, but investment bankers have been working two to three days on rotation throughout the summer, according to dealmakers.
The bank has been increasing numbers gradually this month.
Goldman Sachs, which has lured staff back with free canteen food and ice cream in recent months, has between 30 and 40 per cent of its 6,000 UK staff coming into its UK headquarters.
Numbers are expected to rise during the remainder of the year.
Credit Suisse has delayed a widespread return to its US offices for unvaccinated employees by a month to October. In the UK, however, all employees are expected to spend at least some of their working week in the office this month.
In New York, where the push back to the office began in June, plans have been hindered. Credit Suisse, Bank of Montreal, Jeffries, Perella Weinberg Partners and Wells Fargo have all delayed office returns by at least a month amid an increase in Covid cases.
Goldman and Morgan Stanley have both mandated vaccines for their US employees, but have not changed plans to ramp up employee numbers in their New York offices. JP Morgan has also kept its plans for a Wall Street return on course.
Some banking executives remain intent on bringing employees back to the office en masse.
Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon called working from home an “aberration” and has long pushed for a widespread return, particularly for junior staff. JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon and Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman have also called on staff to come back, although more flexible working is likely at all three banks.
Some European rivals have signalled a permanent change to their working practices. HSBC, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered, UBS and UniCredit are among those to implement permanent hybrid-working options for their employees.
More than 120,000 people work in Canary Wharf, while about 374,000 are employed in the City of London across financial and professional services.
Policy chair of the City of London Corporation, Catherine McGuinness, said that financial services firms believe flexible working is “here to stay”. “While there are clear benefits of working from home at least part of the time, for many businesses and workers, central office hubs still have a crucial role to play.”
She added: “Many employees are eager to return to the office for at least part of the week”.
A recent poll of senior financial executives found that a large proportion (36 per cent) wanted to return to the office for three days a week.
(The writer is our foreign correspondent based in the UK)
