Goldman bankers leading City of London’s uneven return to office

Goldman bankers leading City of London’s uneven return to office

Bloomberg

After more than a year of near-empty skyscrapers and virtual conferences, the City of London is hoping the UK government's latest lockdown guidance next week will help kickstart a more widespread return to the office. Banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co have told UK-based staff that workers should ready themselves for a gradual return to office from later this month. Those plans could change if Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces an extension of the remaining lockdown restrictions in England. Even if Johnson unlocks, those hoping for a speedy return to pre-pandemic norms may be disappointed. The scale of any return is unlikely to be consistent across the same firm, let alone the broader industry, according to estimates of foot traffic levels since the onset of the pandemic by data platform Orbital Insight. If you're a trader or an investment banker, you're more likely to soon find yourself commuting in “” if you haven't already returned. But other areas of finance may stay quieter. Foot traffic levels in the main London offices of Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley, which have a substantial proportion of