US banks in Paris tighten security, order remote work over pro-Iran threat

PARIS (AFP) — Citigroup and Goldman Sachs stepped up security in Paris on Thursday, telling staff they can work from home, after authorities thwarted an attack against another U.S. financial institution that French prosecutors said might have been linked to a pro-Iran group.

According to a French police source, Goldman Sachs in London received an email from the U.S. authorities warning that a pro-Iranian group was threatening to attack U.S. banks with explosive devices.

The security measures come more than a month after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran sparked a regional war and unleashed global economic turmoil.

The French government and security services have said that while they do not believe France itself is a target, U.S. and Israeli interests on its soil might potentially be singled out.

Over the weekend French authorities thwarted an attack on a Bank of America branch in Paris.

Citigroup said its employees in Paris and Frankfurt were working remotely “as a precautionary measure.”

“The safety of our employees is our number one priority, and we are taking the necessary measures to keep our employees safe,” a spokeswoman told AFP.

Police have also deployed surveillance outside the Paris offices of U.S. bank Goldman Sachs near the Champs-Elysees, the police source said.

Citing a person familiar with the matter, The Financial Times said that Goldman Sachs had also told employees in Paris they can work from home.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment when reached by AFP.

French authorities have charged four people — a young adult and three minors — after police foiled an attempt to set off an explosive device outside a Bank of America branch in Paris before dawn on Saturday.

France’s National Counterterrorism Prosecutor’s Office 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 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.

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By Agence France-Presse