Financial firms around the world ramp up contingency plans as coronavirus hits

Banks and other large financial companies in major cities across the world ramped up their emergency measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus on Tuesday, with Barclays Plc (BARC.L) and BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) confirming one case in their New York offices. The steps including telling staff who had been exposed to someone with the virus to self-quarantine for 14 days, splitting operations so that some staff work from home or back-up locations and deep cleaning offices. Barclays told staff on Tuesday that a trading floor employee in its Midtown Manhattan office tested positive for the virus and told employees who worked near or met with the individual to self-quarantine, according to a memo seen by Reuters. Morgan Stanley (MS.N) also confirmed that an employee at its Purchase, New York, campus, roughly 45-minutes north of Manhattan, tested positive for the virus.