Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec is telling its employees not travel to California and Washington state as part of the asset manager's response to limiting the spread of the coronavirus.
Canada's second-largest pension fund with about 1,300 employees and C$340 billion ($255.6 billion) in net assets has also restricted travel to India, China, Southeast Asia and Italy, as well as instructed its employees to avoid any non-essential travel, a representative for Montreal-based Caisse de Depot said.
Royal Bank of Canada has earlier said it will split its trading floors in Toronto, New York, New Jersey and London starting Tuesday, while Bank of Montreal is dividing up its trading operations in Canada, the U.S., Asia and London. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is also moving some trading-floor employees to backup locations this week.
The measures mirror similar moves by financial firms in the U.S., Europe and Asia designed to limit the viral spread of COVID-19. Washington and California are among the states with the most infected cases in North America.
Montreal-based Caisse de Depot manages the pension plan of retirees in Quebec, Canada's second most populous province, as well as various provincial insurance plans.