By Noor Zainab Hussain and Matt Scuffham
(Reuters) – Citigroup Inc has told its employees in the New York metro area that they can work from home through the holidays, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc has canceled its remaining holiday parties there, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
The Wall Street giants are the latest financial institutions to rethink their plans to return to business-as-usual amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in New York and other financial hubs and growing concerns over the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
Citigroup told staff at its New York metro area offices on Wednesday they should work from home if they are able to, a person familiar with the matter said. Vaccinated staff had been allowed to return to some Citigroup offices in recent months.
Goldman Sachs, which has not sent staff home, had hosted holiday parties over the last few weeks but on Thursday said it was canceling remaining gatherings due to worries over COVID-19, according to a separate source familiar with the bank’s plans.
The spread of Omicron has disrupted firms’ efforts to return to normalcy, prompting other large banks in the United States and Canada to push back their back-to-office plans, spike holiday gatherings and impose stricter precautions.
The new variant has been detected in 77 countries since it was first identified three weeks ago, fuelling concerns that its large number of mutations will help it spread faster and evade protection provided by COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
Earlier this week, JPMorgan Chase & Co told unvaccinated staff in Manhattan to work from home, while investment bank Jefferies Financial Group last week asked staff in Manhattan and elsewhere to again steer clear of the office to a spate of COVID-19 cases.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and National Bank of Canada said on Wednesday they have asked staff in Canada to work remotely, joining Bank of Nova Scotia in halting plans for a return to offices amid growing concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant in Canada.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru and Matt Scuffhan in New York; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Paul Simao)
