WTC Businesses Seek Missing Employees

Baldwin Louie — Wed, 12 Sep 2001 15:00:00 -0700

UPDATE NEW YORK -- For the businesses that called the World Trade Center home, the task of accounting for thousands of workers is the next step. For some companies, it may take days, if not weeks.

The twin towers were home to such symbols of Western economic might as the Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Kemper Insurance, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( LEH), Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. (MWD), Credit Suisse First Boston and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW).

Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC) said Wednesday that "several hundred" of its 1,700 employees were successfully evacuated from the World Trade Center after Tuesday's terrorist attack.

The insurance and consulting group's Marsh USA Agencies unit occupied floors 93 through 100 of the 110-story North Tower, which was struck near its top at 8: 45 a.m. EDT Tuesday by the first of two deliberate plane collisions with the towers.

A spokeswoman wouldn't comment specifically on the status of tenants on those floors, but said in addition to the successful evacuations, some of its employees had been away from the site for meetings or vacation.

"It's very safe to say that several hundred have been accounted for," the spokeswoman said, declining to be more specific. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the company had accounted for about 500 of its employees by midday Tuesday.

"Our efforts will focus on recovery efforts for the time being," she said.

In addition to Marsh USA, the group's Guy Carpenter Agencies unit occupied floors 47 through 54 of the South Tower, which was hit closer to its middle by the second plane collision at 9:03 a.m. EDT.

In a Web site posting at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Marsh & McLennan said senior managers were directing their business units from the company's headquarters at 1166 Avenue of the America in Midtown Manhattan.

Normally 50,000 people work in the twin towers, but the first attack came when many workers weren't yet in their offices. Officials estimated that 10,000 to 20,000 people were in the buildings when the first plane crashed.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said hospitals had treated 1,100 injured by Tuesday night. But apparently most of the victims remained buried.

Investment firm Morgan Stanley had 3,500 workers in the company's individual investor businesses in the south tower. In a message posted on the company's Web site, Chairman Philip Purcell said he was saddened and outraged by the attacks.

"In spite of this tragedy, all of our businesses are functioning and will continue to function," he wrote. "We are committed to resuming full operations as exchanges and markets reopen."

Bank of America is still trying to account for its hundreds of employees who typically work on the 9th, 10th, 11th and 81st floors of the World Trade Center's North Tower. The company doesn't have any confirmed reports of injuries or casualties.

A spokeswoman for the Charlotte bank said as many as 400 employees normally work in the office. The spokeswoman didn't know exactly how many workers were in the building when the planes hit, nor did she know exactly how many workers have already been accounted for.

The spokeswoman couldn't immediately describe the nature of the company's operations in the World Trade Center, but said all operating systems and data located there were backed up at alternate locations and are intact.

Fred Alger Management Inc said President David Alger was lost in the World Trade Center attack, and many of the firm's research analysts and portfolio managers remain unaccounted for as of Wednesday.

Of the 55 employees working on the 93rd floor of the North Tower, 38 remain unaccounted for, the company said in a statement Wednesday. All administrative and sales staff, as well as a small core of research analysts survived.

Fred Alger, the company's chairman and brother of David Alger, said he we would resume day-to-day active management of the investment firm. All of the administrative, marketing and fund pricing functions, which operate out of the company's Morristown, N.J. office, were unaffected. Dan Chung was named chief investment officer.

Meanwhile, 69 Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc. employees who worked in the South Tower of the World Trade Center are still unaccounted for, a spokeswoman said late Wednesday morning. The New York investment-banking firm had 172 employees in the building.

The people that are unaccounted for work in various departments, the spokeswoman said. She wasn't more specific.

Maxcor Financial Group Inc. (MAXF), whose world headquarters was based in the South Tower, is still trying to account for the whereabouts or safety of about 60 employees. The company said it believes it has reliable confirmation of the safety of 225 of its 285 workers.

Employees working at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s (JPM) Chase branch were safely evacuated Tuesday from their office, which was located in the World Trade Center's ground-floor mall, a spokesman confirmed. The spokesman didn't know the exact number of employees at the branch. No other offices were affected.

Citigroup Inc. (C) said it evacuated employees at its offices in New York's World Trade Center safely Tuesday before the building collapsed, and that no injuries had been reported as of Wednesday morning. The company occupied office space at 7 World Trade Center, the third building in the complex to collapse following the destruction of the twin towers.

Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER), which has offices in the World Financial Center, adjacent to the twin towers, believes all 9,000 of its employees were evacuated safely. The firm was open for business Wednesday, although its downtown offices were closed.

All employees of Moody's Investors Service in New York are safe and accounted for, a spokesman for the rating agency said. Moody's office, which is located at 99 Church Street, was within one block of the World Trade Center and remains " indefinitely closed," said John Cline, a spokesman for Moody's who was reached at home.

Moody's continues to issue ratings announcements from its offices outside of the U.S.

Three employees of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are still unaccounted for, said spokesman David Gary. There were 75 people of the commission which worked at the World Trade Center, and Mr. Gary said the CFTC is confident that the missing people will be located safely.

Dozens of foreign companies had offices in the towers, including Sinochem American Holdings of China; Japan's Nikko Securities; Germany's CommerzBank AG; Zim-American Israeli Shipping Co. of Israel; and Cantor Fitzgerald Securities Corp. of London.

Detlev Rahmsdorf, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank AG (DTBKY) in Frankfurt, said more than 300 people work for the company in the Trade Center, in offices in the lower floors.

Ted Meyer, another Deutsche Bank spokesman, said the company is "working with the authorities to verify the safety of our employees." He said the company's financial operations were being transferred to backup facilities.

German insurance giant Allianz AG Holding (AZ) had about 300 people working in the building, though they maintain they don't know which floor.

"They were all evacuated and they're all well," said spokesman Hubertus Kuelps, who refused to elaborate further.

London-based Cantor Fitzgerald International, as well as eSpeed International, which was spun off by Cantor, said they were still taking stock of the tragedy. ESpeed is an electronic trading service with more than 650 clients world-wide. Both companies had operations on the 101st and 103rd to 105th floors, and employed 1,000 workers in the North Tower.

Cantor said about 100 people were out of the office and three injured workers have been located in Manhattan hospitals. The remaining workers are unaccounted for.

"All of our thoughts and prayers are with our New York colleagues and their families and friends at this time," said Howard W. Lutnick, chairman of both companies. "In a very difficult and confused situation, we are doing all that we can to determine more about the situations of colleagues."

In San Francisco, Henrik Slipsager of ABM Industries Inc. (ABM), said his company employed more than 800 engineers, janitors and lighting technicians at the World Trade Center.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with them, and with their families, co-workers and other friends. It is, of course, far too early for us to assess the human and financial toll of this tragedy," he said.

French mutual lender Credit Agricole said its Carr Futures Inc. unit is continuing operations from its Chicago base in the wake of the World Trade Center attack. Earlier Wednesday, the French mutual lender said some 60 of the 153 staff employed at the Carr Futures site on the 92nd floor of the North Tower had been accounted for.

Earlier Wednesday, reinsurer Scor SA (SCO) said the 120 workers based in its former operations on the 23rd and 24th floors of the World Trade Center were safely evacuated after the attack.

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WTC Businesses Seek Missing Employees