A member of staff at the Ticino-based branch of EFG International has tested positive for the new coronavirus. The private bank has taken a series of measures that will affect staff globally.
An employee at the Lugano-branch of EFG International has caught the new coronavirus, according to a statement by the bank on Tuesday. Lugano is the banking hub of the Ticino region of Switzerland, which borders Northern Italy and which has very close economic ties with the region of Italy worst hit by the virus outbreak.
Local and Global Measures
EFG International has taken immediate steps upon receiving the notification: «We are in ongoing contact with the affected employee and have taken immediate precautionary measures, closing off, cleaning and disinfecting the affected non-client-facing area as well as requesting all persons the affected employee has potentially been in contact with to work from home until further notice.»
The Swiss bank also implemented a range of further measures that will affect all its staff. These measures include split-office arrangements, temperature control, work from home capabilities and the restriction of all non-essential business travel, the bank said.
UBS and Credit Suisse Precautions
EFG is not the first Swiss bank to ground its staff. UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, has already stopped non-essential travel.
Credit Suisse meanwhile divided up the staff of essential divisions into groups, which were spread out across different offices, all in a bid to prevent a potential outbreak of coronavirus among staff to close down its business.
