Large US banks have begun testing crisis measures in case of a broader coronavirus outbreak that prevents staff from going to work, banking sources told AFP.
JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have asked hundreds of workers to work from home as part of emergency preparedness.
“We are asking some employees to work from home over the next two weeks just so we can test systems and remote access,” said one person familiar with the process, characterizing the step as “typical contingency stuff.”
JPMorgan has undertaken tests at a disaster recovery site in London and two in the United States, in Brooklyn and the state of New Jersey, a source told AFP.
Citigroup has undertaken a similar process in London and New Jersey, while Goldman Sachs has done tests at a site in London.
“We have recovery sites and we continually test them,” said a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman. “As you can imagine, we are enhancing our testing in view of the coronavirus.”
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The Federal Reserve can lower the discount rate (the reason the market went up on Monday) and they can bail out the banks with repo funds (the reason the market went up on Wednesday) but they cannot change reality. When the banks initiate contingency plans as outlined above, we are close.
This means the economic consequences of this pandemic will become apparent and the government’s incompetent response (don’t test, don’t tell) will be exposed. Congress cannot buy our way out of a pandemic by subsidizing a vaccine that does not exist.
We are living under a graveyard sky with an uncertain future. Unless we realize who really is in charge and follow His precepts.
David DeGerolamo
