The City of London Finally Gets Back to the Office

On the lower floors of HSBC Holdings Plc’s Canary Wharf headquarters, the desks are filling up.

Traders, salespeople and close support staff not currently in the office have been told they are expected to be at their workstations on the second to fourth floors of the tower five days a week, according to people familiar with the matter. The only exceptions will be for domestic emergencies and unavoidable family commitments.

It's a sign that, after several false starts, the finance industry's return to the office is at last gathering pace. At times over the past two weeks, trains have been at their busiest since the pandemic broke out, while the streets have been thronged with workers again. The City of London and Canary Wharf might not be as they were before the pandemic, and staff may only be coming in for a few days a week -- but a turning point has been reached.

Citigroup Inc.’s skyscraper hit more than half of typical pre-pandemic attendance in early September, while footfall at JPMorgan Chase & Co. has risen to 40%, compared to about a quarter in August, according to people familiar with the matter. Occupancy at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s office is currently at around half and the proportion is continuing to rise, another person familiar with the matter said.

While New York’s reopening is being stymied by a surge in cases of the Delta variant of the virus, London’s own spike receded over the summer. Though daily Covid infections remain relatively high in the U.K. -- with more than 200,000 new cases reported last week -- the government regards the current pressure on the NHS as manageable and is touting a new phase of the pandemic with more individual choice and freedom.