BBVA moves some trading floor staff out of Madrid due to coronavirus

By Jesús Aguado

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's BBVA <BBVA.MC> has transferred up to 100 staff from its Madrid trading floor to a location just outside the city as part of its contingency plan to protect operations from potential disruption related to the coronavirus outbreak.

BBVA currently employs 400 people at its trading floor at its Madrid headquarters and around a quarter are being transferred as of Thursday to Las Rozas, a suburb 20 kms (12 miles) northwest of the city, a spokesman said.

"The measure consists of the relocation of 80-100 people in total to this new room from today," he said, adding that "all critical functions are replicated on a smaller scale in this other room."

The measure is aimed at ensuring that a potential infection of coronavirus would not disrupt the bank's markets business, he said.

Other European banks are also readying out-of-town offices and isolating some teams to ensure they can keep trading if coronavirus spreads in more major financial centres.

On Wednesday, BBVA postponed its Investor Day, that was scheduled in Madrid on March 24, until further notice.

The bank has also prevented staff from going to high-risk areas, such as mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Iran and the regions hit in northern Italy. The bank has also restricted travel elsewhere.

(Reporting By Jesús Aguado; editng by Inti Landauro and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)