The coronavirus crisis is now affecting Edward Jones. The financial services firm is restricting access to its branch offices and has asked its financial advisors to suspend “residential face-to-face” meetings.
Edward Jones is “encouraging clients and our financial advisors to communicate using virtual means, including telephone call, WebEx, secure text and online access,” but are yet to restrict advisors from coming to their offices.
The broker-dealer is committed to staying open for business, while also keeping their clients and associates safe. For the “the limited number of associates who may need to work in the office,” Edward Jones has promised to “[enhance] cleaning protocols” and of course encourage social distancing.
On Wednesday, Edward Jones told Financial Advisor IQ, "It is the responsibility of the branch team to clean the branch according to the enhanced cleaning protocol sent by Edward Jones to all branch offices last week. This is consistent with the guidance provided by the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]. Cleaning expenses and cleaning supplies are a qualified business expense paid through their expense plans, so there should be no barriers for our financial advisors to use the enhanced cleaning protocol in an effort to reduce risk and keep our clients, associates and communities healthy."
At the beginning of March, the St. Louis-based firm put a moratorium on all business travel until the end of May.
Edward Jones joins several of the major brokerage houses in their move to limit access to their offices and restrict in-person interactions.
Wells Fargo, Fidelity, and Morgan Stanley have all urged their staff who can work from home to do so. Goldman Sachs has also encouraged its employees to work from home or from its backup locations.
Charles Schwab, meanwhile, said is rushing to get more employees working from home, but has conceded its systems weren’t built to withstand the stresses on the business that the coronavirus outbreak has caused.
As of Thursday afternoon, at least 10,822 people across every state, plus Washington, D.C., and three U.S. territories, have tested positive for coronavirus, according to a New York Times database, and at least 172 patients with the virus have died.
Around the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 233,000 people, according to official counts. As of Thursday afternoon, at least 9,818 people have died, more than half of them outside mainland China.
