As coronavirus spreads, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America relocating Wall Street traders

Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are relocating some of their Wall Street traders outside of New York City as the coronavirus spreads.

Bank of America will send about 100 employees to offices near Stamford, Conn., although the vast majority of its workforce will remain in New York City, a source with knowledge of the situation told FOX Business.

Morgan Stanley's decision comes shortly after it halted employees’ nonessential travel outside of the United States. The firm, in a memo to staff on Sunday, said only business-critical travel outside the United States would be permitted, and it must be pre-approved by a division head. 

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Morgan Stanley did not respond to a request for comment. 

The firm employs more than 60,000 people worldwide. 

The virus, which causes a disease called COVID-19, has killed more than 3,300 people, with close to 100,000 cases reported worldwide, mostly in China. There have been a total of 232 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States and 11 deaths.

The institutional-securities traders will be shifted to Westchester County, N.Y., which is located north of Manhattan, according to Business Insider. 

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There are at least 33 confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York state, and more than 4,000 people, including 2,700 people in New York City, are under some form of quarantine as a precautionary measure, according to WABC. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday morning that another a case had been confirmed in the city. The person, a man in his 50s who lives in Manhattan, had contact with a Westchester lawyer and his family that has become infected with the virus. There are at least eight new cases in Westchester, the New York Times reported.

According to Business Insider, Morgan Stanley, which is headquartered in Manhattan, created the backup site for staffers in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The firm, which has sales, trading, investment banking, and wealth-management operations, was based in the World Trade Center.

Morgan Stanley is not the only bank taking precautions against coronavirus. 

JPMorgan Chase started to shift sales and trading staff to different offices, according to Reuters, which viewed an internal memo. Sales and trading employees in London and New York will need to shift to other locations as a "precautionary measure," it said.

UBS, the Swiss lender, also restricted non-essential travel, Bloomberg reported.

This story has been updated to include Bank of America's decision to relocate employees.