A Wells Fargo employee has coronavirus and Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Merrill Lynch all have offices in the same San Francisco skyscraper - here's what they're telling workers
- Wells Fargo has confirmed an employee working in one of its San Francisco buildings tested positive for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that's spread around the world.
- Rivals Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Merrill Lynch are also tenants in that building and are in touch with their employees working there about measures they are each taking.
- The firms' responses highlight how rapidly the virus has spread, and how sprawling companies - in this case, four competing financial institutions all housed under one roof - are messaging their response to their staff.
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Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Merrill Lynch are telling some of their San Francisco employees who work out of the same tower in San Francisco's financial district that it's business as usual after fellow building tenant Wells Fargo confirmed one of its employees there tested positive for the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19.
The firms' communications mark some of the latest coronavirus-related messages to staffers in the financial services industry as the number of cases climbs in the US and other countries, and banks scramble to take action and keep operations running smoothly.
Wells Fargo on Monday confirmed one of its employees working on the 23rd floor of the bank's 555 California St. offices tested positive for the coronavirus; the bank's headquarters is a short walk away, at nearby 420 Montgomery St.
Top wealth management competitors Merrill Lynch, UBS, and Morgan Stanley are all housed in the same 52-story skyscraper the San Francisco Chronicle has named the second-most valuable building in the city.
Swiss bank UBS has employees on floors in the building including 32, 34, and 46, according to financial advisers' online company profiles. The company has communicated to its employees at 555 California St. that it is aware of the Wells Fargo coronavirus case, according to a person familiar with the matter. The office is open for business.
The bank also advised that if an employee there felt uncomfortable or unsafe, they could speak with their manager to discuss alternatives to working inside the office, including arranging to work remotely, the person said.
UBS reported 68,662 employees through Dec. 31, with around a third of its workforce, or some 22,600 people, in its global wealth management arm (among the world's largest, with some $2.6 trillion in client assets). Most of the firm's force of around 10,000 financial advisers are based in the Americas.
It's taken other measures as part of its coronavirus response plan, Business Insider has reported.
Last week Zurich-headquartered UBS started implementing a split-operations policy in Switzerland, an approach already in effect in the Asia-Pacific region, as part of its coronavirus response.
Morgan Stanley is also a tenant at 555 California St., occupying the 35th floor of the building, where private wealth management operations are housed, according to the company's website.
Morgan Stanley has communicated to its employees in the building that it is aware of Wells Fargo's one confirmed case of coronavirus, according to a person familiar with the matter. It is unclear whether the firm issued further guidance around remote work measures.
The New York-based bank has taken measures elsewhere in response to the coronavirus spread, including shifting about half of its institutional-securities traders to its disaster-recovery site in Westchester, New York, Business Insider previously reported. Morgan Stanley had around 60,400 global employees and some 15,500 financial advisers as of Dec. 31.
Merrill Lynch, housed on floors inside 555 California St. including 9, has also been in touch with employees of the building, according to a person familiar with the matter, alerting them of a confirmed case in the building in an email on Monday. The communication to Merrill Lynch and private banking staffers in the building did not include guidance around working from home, the person said. Those offices remain open for business.
Bank of America Private Bank, formerly known as US Trust, employees are also housed on the building's 7th floor, according to its website.
Merrill Lynch, which falls under Bank of America's wealth management arm, has a long history of the 1.8 million-square-foot building; 555 California St. was previously known as the Bank of America Tower.
Today, around a third of the building is owned by the Trump Organization, the entity founded by President Donald Trump's family. A spokesperson for the organization did not respond to a request for comment and questions around whether it was aware of the property's coronavirus case.
The building is controlled by Vornado Realty Trust, a publicly-traded real estate investment trust. A spokesperson for Vornado did not respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, Bloomberg News first reported the Wells Fargo employee's case. The bank was informed of the diagnosis on Saturday after previously learning the person had contact with an infected person, the outlet reported.
The office resumed normal operations Monday, a spokesperson told Bloomberg News, and the situation did not affect other Wells Fargo locations in San Francisco. A company spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
That the four largest US wealth managers had to grapple with Wells Fargo's case of COVID-19 in the same building underline the complexities of corporations' responses to the coronavirus.
Last week, Business Insider reported a worker at investment firm TIAA in Midtown Manhattan contracted coronavirus, which caused the building to close on Friday.
The outbreak has rocked financial markets and led to disarray across industries, with canceled trips and conferences becoming the norm.
Strategists and economists are also trying to understand how severely COVID-19's spread will impact the economy, and some are expecting a dent in economic activity around the world.
Credit Suisse now expects close to no earnings-per-share growth this year, and the firm's chief US equity strategist Jonathan Golub forecasts the "brunt of the economic/earnings impact will be felt in the second quarter." Golub said in a note to clients on Monday that business activity should rebound during the second half of this year and in 2021.
NBC Bay Area reported late Monday that health officials say the Bay Area "is home to what is believed to be the first US cases of community spread" of the coronavirus, and that 13 cases in San Francisco have been reported.
A cruise ship carrying 21 passengers who tested positive for the coronavirus has also docked in Oakland, just outside of San Francisco. The ship was carrying more than 3,500 people.
Nearly 116,000 people around the world have been infected with the novel coronavirus as of Tuesday, and more than 4,000 have died as outbreaks continue to spread around the world.