Citigroup pulls back on office return plans

(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc <C.N> said on Wednesday it was delaying plans for U.S. employees returning to offices as COVID-19 cases rise in several states.

"We have always said our plans to return to the office would prioritize the health and safety of our colleagues and be centered around data not dates. Consistent with that, we delayed our return to a number of sites across the U.S. given the health data in those locations," a bank spokeswoman told Reuters.

Bloomberg News reported https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-01/citi-pulls-back-on-plans-for-returning-to-office-as-virus-surges the news earlier on Wednesday.

Citi will delay plans to bring back a small percentage of workers in 13 states, the Bloomberg report said, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.

(Reporting by Bharath Manjesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni and Shinjini Ganguli)