On a cold, wet morning on 5 March 2020 around 100 equity research analysts were ushered down a fire escape at HSBC’s Canary Wharf headquarters after receiving the news every City firm had been dreading for weeks — one of their team had tested positive for Covid-19.

This was the first case of the virus confirmed at a major financial institution in London, revealed by Financial News, and followed months of banks gradually shifting staff to back up sites in unglamourous locations like Croydon, Lewisham or Basingstoke in anticipation of a Covid infection that would force them to shutter trading floors.