Citigroup has urged staff in Paris and Frankfurt to work from home, a company spokeswoman said on Thursday, as US banks step up security following a thwarted attack against another US financial institution over the weekend.
“The safety of our employees is our number one priority, and we are taking the necessary measures to keep our employees safe,” she said.
“Employees in Paris/Frankfurt are working remotely, as a precautionary measure,” she added.
Police have also deployed surveillance outside the Paris offices of US bank Goldman Sachs in the city’s 8th arrondissement, near the Champs-Elysées, a police source said.
The operation is part of heightened police vigilance to protect US interests and Jewish community sites in France over concerns about potential attacks linked to the war in the Middle East.
French authorities have charged four people – a young adult and three minors – and placed them in pre-trial detention after someone placed an explosive device outside a Bank of America branch in Paris before dawn on Saturday.
The foiled plot came more than a month after US-Israeli strikes on Iran sparked a regional war and unleashed global economic turmoil.
France’s National Counterterrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) says the incident could be linked to a little-known Islamist group with possible links to Iran, though no firm link has yet been established.
The Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, has claimed responsibility for attacks targeting Jewish communities in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands.
