With no end in sight to the outbreak and limited willingness to extend the break for essential services such as finance, banks in China are adopting similar procedures for operations as those deployed during the SARS outbreak.
Originally slated for business resumption today, the Shanghai government told companies to extend workers’ break to at least February 9 due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The exception for resuming today applies to workers in essential services such as finance.
In response, banks are adopting measures similar to those used during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak nearly 20 years ago. China Construction bank and Hang Seng are reportedly arranging splits to trading teams and alternative working days to reduce human contact and risk of transmission. For those that do not require the usage of secure internal systems such as traders, they may be allowed to work from home where possible including sales staff which can rely on online sales pitches.
In addition, bankers and brokers called to work this week will also be receiving double pay, according to a «Reuters» report citing unnamed sources.
