U.S. Banks Expand Travel Curbs in Response to Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) -- Several of the biggest U.S. banks and the nation's largest life insurer expanded their restrictions on employee travel Monday, curbing all non-essential trips abroad as the coronavirus spreads across the globe.

Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co. told employees not to travel internationally without approval from top company executives, expanding earlier restrictions that targeted countries where the outbreak was most severe. MetLife Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. imposed similar rules, people familiar with the matter said, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., the biggest U.S. bank, did so last week.

At Morgan Stanley, domestic U.S. travel isn't restricted, “though we will continue to closely monitor the situation,” according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. Citigroup, which does business in more than 160 countries, previously restricted travel to a select number of countries, including Italy and China.

Since the first restrictions went into effect last month, Iran and South Korea reported a surge in infections and the European Union set up a special team to deal with the outbreak as cases rose from Italy to Spain. Global cases have jumped to about 89,000, with the death toll at 3,044. New York City, Brussels and Berlin reported their first cases.

Read more about Citigroup's response to the virus

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. restricted all non-essential international travel and postponed indefinitely a conference scheduled for New York this week, people briefed on the matter said. The Global Macro Conference typically highlights commentary about the world economic outlook from top Goldman analysts. The Asia-Pacific version was held in Hong Kong in January, just as the outbreak was taking hold in China.

Buffett's Meeting

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said Monday that it will still host its annual shareholders meeting on May 2 “irrespective of conditions at that time.” The meeting, to be held in Omaha, Nebraska, where Berkshire is based, draws thousands of investors from around the world, including China.

“The scope of the meeting and associated activities may be modified by circumstances at the time, but we have no present plans to do so,” Berkshire said in a statement posted on its website.

Morgan Stanley said it might expand work-from-home requirements in coming days. “Individuals should bear this in mind when considering personal travel,” the firm said in the memo from Jen Easterly, global head of the fusion resilience center, Morgan Stanley's crisis-response operation.

Wells Fargo, which has its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong, also has offices in Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo, according to its website. The San Francisco-based bank also does business in Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

--With assistance from Yalman Onaran, Erik Schatzker, Hannah Levitt, Lananh Nguyen, Michelle F. Davis and Katherine Chiglinsky.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jenny Surane in New York at jsurane4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Steve Dickson, Daniel Taub

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