More than 20,000 bankers, traders and other workers are bedding down in office towers in Shanghai’s Lujiazui district as they bid to keep China’s giant financial hub ticking over through a COVID-19 lockdown, according to local administration officials.
Brokerages, asset managers and financial exchanges in Lujiazui – China’s answer to Wall Street – rushed to summon key personnel to offices ahead of Monday’s lockdown in Shanghai, and prepared sleeping bags and basic supplies for overnight stays.
Some have also adopted two-team rotation shifts, and initiated disaster recovery centres in a financial hub that processed more than 2,500 trillion yuan ($292 trillion) of financial transactions last year.