Lloyd’s of London has emergency coronavirus plan in case building locked down
Lloyd’s of London has “emergency trading protocols” to ensure business continuity if access to its building is restricted due to the coronavirus epidemic.
The 330 year-old insurance market will encourage electronic placing, it said in a market notice dated yesterday.
Lloyd’s is one of the last bastions of face-to-face trading in the City, with insurance workers touting their files a familiar sight in the streets and pubs of EC3.
The market has made a push towards electronic trading but most of its business is still carried out on a one-to-one basis.
Lloyd’s said its Italian office staff remain on a rota, with around one-third of employees in the office and two-thirds working from home.
Its Singapore and Hong Kong offices returned to normal from 2 March, and its Shanghai and Beijing offices are on a phased return to normal operations, Lloyd’s said.
The market said it had not restricted building access or restricted the number of attendees per meeting, but said this was under continual review.
Today, Big Four accountancy firm Deloitte confirmed that one of its London staff had been diagnosed with coronavirus.
The employee had been travelling in Asia and the diagnosis was confirmed yesterday,
The firm said some of its staff who had been in contact with the person were in isolation and the floor they worked on had been closed for a deep clean.