JPM JP Morgan Chase and Co

By Emily Glazer 

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is loosening its collar, adopting a more casual dress code as the bank tries to stay in step with the tastes of clients and technology upstarts.

In a break from tradition, the largest U.S. bank by assets is allowing employees to wear business-casual attire on most occasions, according to an internal memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The move -- trading pinstripes for pullover sweaters -- is relatively unusual for a Wall Street bank, in which suits are typically required for men and women due to longstanding industry customs and the etiquette involved in dealing with wealthy clients.

It also reflects the ever-changing world of banking, in which big financial institutions are constantly evolving to stay relevant as financial technology firms attempt to take away business and as many bank clients, including in Silicon Valley, continue to shun formal wear.

Though most other big banks haven't changed their dress codes, some have casual summer Fridays, and other financial-services firms are beginning to let employees know it is all right to dress down.

Accounting-and-consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers moved to a more casual dress code a few weeks ago, allowing employees to wear jeans so long as there are no client meetings.

"This is all part of a pivot as large organizations like ours try to do more and more listening to our employees," said PricewaterhouseCoopers Vice Chairman Tim Ryan. "The banking industry has similar challenges...we are in a war for a decreasing talent pool."

Mr. Ryan, who takes over as the firm's chairman July 1, said he went shopping more than once to find the right jeans, shirts and shoes for the office. His six children helped advise him.

"Authenticity is very important to this generation of job seekers," said Nancy Gill, former head of human resources for J.P. Morgan's investment bank who is now a talent-development consultant.

Big banks could use relaxed dress codes to compete for talent with the likes of Google, Facebook Inc. and hedge-fund firms whose employees favor more comfortable garb.

It isn't the first time banks have adjusted. During the late 1990s technology boom, some banks, including J.P. Morgan, also toned down their dress codes. But after the financial crisis, bankers started dressing more formally again.

Banks then said, "we want to look professional and are fighting for business," said Lissa Broome, a professor of banking law at the University of North Carolina's School of Law.

In the memo, J.P. Morgan spelled out that athletic clothing, including sweatpants, leggings and yoga pants, aren't acceptable, nor are halter tops, flip-flops, hats or hoods. "Distracting, tight, revealing or exceptionally loose or low-cut clothing" isn't allowed either, according to a copy of the dress code.

But casual pants, capri pants, polo shirts and dress sandals are OK, according to the dress code. Jeans and athletic shoes aren't considered business casual unless communicated otherwise by the manager, though they already are allowed at certain sites.

J.P. Morgan said if an employee's appearance or attire isn't acceptable under the guidelines, then the person's manager can ask the employee to leave, change clothes or subject that person to disciplinary action "up to and including termination of employment."

"Business casual is not weekend casual, and if you're seeing a client you should dress for that client," according to the memo.

The bank said the change "reflects how the way we work is changing." Bank branch employees will still wear apparel from a recently expanded Chase uniform collection.

The memo was sent just weeks after J.P. Morgan's management committee, which includes Chairman and Chief Executive James Dimon, returned from a Silicon Valley trip to meet technology companies. After the meetings, J.P. Morgan executives felt the bank's policy was out of sync with other industries, a person familiar with the bank's thinking said.

Some J.P. Morgan employees said executives, including Mr. Dimon, already had begun dressing down a few years ago, while others noted that employees wore more casual pants after seeing the memo Thursday night.

"It's a sign of the times," one managing director said. "Half my meetings now, the clients aren't in ties."

Another managing director said khakis and a polo shirt would be rare at the bank's investment-banking hub on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. Younger workers, some said, would be less likely to dress down because they are looking to impress and could always be pulled into an unexpected client meeting.

The firm's private-bank and wealth-management businesses will be closely watched, as executives weigh employee comfort versus conveying conservative formality to the bank's wealthier, older clients, bankers said.

J.P. Morgan already has casual Fridays in many locations, with some of its 237,000 employees going with business casual attire if they don't have clients in the building.

More broadly, about 50% of senior managers said employees wear less-formal clothing than they did five years ago, research from OfficeTeam, a unit of consultant Robert Half International Inc., showed, while 31% of office workers would prefer to be at a company with a business-casual dress code.

The most common dress-code violation? Wearing overly casual clothing, followed by showing too much skin, according to the survey.

In 2013, Barclays PLC began allowing casual Fridays, although the bank stipulated that more-formal outfits were a must for "all client and external meetings, for interviews, and for customer and client-facing areas."

The bank last year adjusted the policy, spelling out that no flip-flops are ever allowed, among other changes.

In 2010, UBS Group AG sent some of its Swiss retail banking staff a 43-page code giving guidelines on how to impress customers with a polished appearance. The move was part of a test UBS was carrying out in Switzerland across five retail branches. The bank has since ended that pilot program, a person familiar with the matter said.

--Ben Eisen contributed to this article.

Write to Emily Glazer at emily.glazer@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 03, 2016 19:02 ET (23:02 GMT)

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