The coronavirus continues to spread through the wealth management industry – claiming another Wells Fargo victim, this time in Charlotte, North Carolina. As the headline picture shows, a haz-mat team was employed to come to the facility and do a serious deep clean sweep, and evacuate the inhabitants during the sweep.
We’ve yet to indentify the patient, but we’ve been told that it is a staffer at the One Wells Fargo Center – the location of Wells Fargo’s east coast operations. As the name of the building states, a large portion of the building itself if staffed with Wells Fargo employees of all divisions. Having a confirmed case of the virus itself in that building is serious.
As the number of confirmed cases continues to mount, wealth management organizations should consider mandatory work from home policies for a period of time. The close quarters nature of these offices feels like a breeding ground for the transmission of the virus itself. In fact, another case of the virus was just found, via Bloomberg at RBC in Manhattan:
“The employee works in the investment banking division of RBC Capital Markets at the Brookfield Place complex in lower Manhattan, said RBC spokeswoman Sanam Heidary. The worker, who tested positive on Monday, and colleagues in close contact with the person are in self-quarantine.”
“Upon learning of the case, we took a number of immediate steps to protect the health and safety of our employees,” Heidary said in an emailed statement. “As a precautionary measure, we immediately advised employees who work on the same floor to work from home while we undertook a deep clean of the impacted floor and all common areas.”
“It’s the third known coronavirus case for Royal Bank, after two employees at a suburban office west of Toronto were confirmed as having the virus. Those workers have been self-quarantined, and the company told their colleagues on the same floor to stay home until further notice. The Toronto-based bank also disinfected the affected floor and all common areas, including elevators, the cafeteria and washrooms.”
We’ve also had initial reports of another firm and case in California, but have yet to get the info confirmed by a secondary source. Stay tuned as we follow the spread of the virus across wealth management.
