Citigroup wants to reopen in July in New York and June in London

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France Media Agency

Citigroup would thus become one of the first flagships of Wall Street to bring back employees to offices in Manhattan, deserted since the establishment of containment in New York, epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.

The reopening will be gradual and will be done slowly: “it will be guided by (scientific) data. It will probably be at a slow pace; it will be step by step, site by site and within these sites it will be by profession, ”Corbat said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Citigroup intends to bring back 5% of the 12,000 employees working in its headquarters, located in the district of Tribeca in southwest Manhattan, in July or even August.

The return of employees to Citigroup headquarters in Canary Wharf in London is scheduled for June.

The vast majority of bank employees, with the notable exception of bankers and brokers responsible for credit markets or advising companies wishing to raise funds, have been working remotely since mid-March.

In New York, many financiers have left the city to take refuge in the countryside, especially in the Hamptons, a resort area for New York’s elite. Bringing them back is an important issue for Wall Street firms, especially since the scientific community has warned of a second wave of the pandemic in the fall.

“The conversations I have are more about transport in urban areas, such as taking the train, taking the metro, taking the bus, than the environment in the office,” says Michael Corbat, who spoke himself refugee in the state of Wyoming with his family after working for a few weeks in his apartment in Manhattan.

“The biggest obstacle we’re going to have […] is to bring people to the office, ”said the banker, adding that there will be less business trips.

Employees will be notified well in advance before returning to the office.

The other banks, such as the first two American establishments JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, are still working on their plans to resume activity on the sites. The first has already indicated that there will be no more than half of the workforce when the reopening.

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