Banks Eye Ditching Real Estate With Workers Wanting to Stay Home - BNN

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Banks Eye Ditching Real Estate With Workers Wanting to Stay Home – BNN

Published

4 years ago

July 21, 2020

Harry Miller

(Bloomberg) — U.S. bankers are planning to cut back on real estate to prepare for a world in which fewer workers make a daily commute to the office.

Roughly 61% of bank executives surveyed by Accenture Plc said they don’t expect all of their employees to be called back to the office, and more than 40% said they plan to reduce their real estate footprint as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and their new workforce strategies.

Many financial-services firms are considering a hybrid model in which employees come to the office three days a week and work from home the other two, according to Laurie McGraw, head of Accenture’s capital-markets practice in North America.

“One of the things the traders have said they miss is that informal dialogue and idea sharing that happens,” McGraw said in a telephone interview. “All of that is gone now. You talk with the people that are on your meeting schedule for the day for the most part. And the fluidity of idea exchange is missing in a lot of cases.”

The country’s biggest banks have slowly begun returning some workers to offices in recent weeks after sending them home in March to slow the spread of the virus. Still, some have had to pull back on their efforts as states around the U.S. see a spike in cases.

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief executive officer, said last week that he sees “huge benefits” to people working from offices. But earlier this month the company had to pull back on plans to return workers to Columbus, Ohio, as Covid-19 cases in the state jumped. And Citigroup Inc. has said it probably won’t bring even half its employees back until a vaccine is available.

Many of McGraw’s clients aren’t able to ditch real estate right away because they need space to ensure social-distancing guidelines are followed as staff start to return.

“They’re having to shut down every other desk, and the traders on the trading floor are all spread out,” McGraw said. “You almost need the same amount of space to bring half your staff back in a socially distant way.”

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Real eState

B.C. woman ordered to pay over half a million dollars over real estate ‘Ponzi scheme’ – Global News

Published

10 hours ago

April 15, 2024

Harry Miller

A B.C. resident has been ordered to pay over $600,000 after committing fraud through a real estate scheme.

The B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) has ordered Cherie Evangeline White and her company Kingdom Investments to pay $626,000 in financial sanctions.

In a Monday media release, the BCSC described the fraud as “consistent with a Ponzi scheme.”

Click to play video: 'Vancouver Island woman charged in $1.7M fraud that targeted non-profit'

2:16
Vancouver Island woman charged in $1.7M fraud that targeted non-profit

White told investors they would get a return of 10 to 30 per cent on their investments after about six months and that the housing they invested in would be provided to those in need, including people experiencing addiction, according to the BCSC.

But instead, she used the funds to buy residential properties and then flip them for profit, money she then used to pay back earlier investors, the BCSC said.

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She commonly used her faith to attract investors by connecting with them on spiritual values and using faith-related imagery, according to the commission.

White also created a sense of urgency for investors, and in one case accompanied an investor to the bank to make sure they invested. Bank staff told the individual not to invest, but she convinced them to anyway, according to the BCSC.

Click to play video: 'Consumer Matters: Cheque fraud frustration'

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Consumer Matters: Cheque fraud frustration

In total Kingdom Investments distributed over $1 million in securities to 24 different investors without proper documentation and details of those investments. Investors suffered losses of about $776,000 as a result of the “fraud and illegal distribution,” the commission said.

The BCSC said White obstructed justice by failing to provide documents and information asked for by the BCSC. It also said she and her company did not show remorse for their actions or acknowledge the damage they caused.

She has been banned from participating in B.C.’s investment market unless she is the one investing in a company. Her company was banned from trading its shares or promoting the business.