UBS dresscode no longer tells staff what lingerie to wear

Swiss bank UBS has been forced to revise its dress code after being ridiculed for suggesting that employees wear skin-coloured underwear and avoid having breath smelling of garlic.

• UBS's 44-page dress code is being revised to a smaller booklet of tips on making a good impression with the bank's customers

The bank announced yesterday it was it was whittling down its 44-page style guide to a more modest booklet that will concentrate on how to impress customers with a polished presence and sense of Swiss precision and decorum.

"We're reviewing what is important to us," UBS spokesman Andreas Kern said.

The existing code tells female employees how to apply make-up, what kind of perfume to wear and what colour of stockings and lingerie are acceptable.

It goes on to advise them not to let the roots show if they colour their hair, and to avoid black nail polish.

"You can extend the life of your knee socks and stockings by keeping your toenails trimmed and filed," UBS tells its female staff.

"Always have a spare pair: stockings can be provisionally repaired with transparent nail polish and a bit of luck."

Men are told how to knot a tie as well as to get a haircut every month and avoid untidy beards and the wearing of earrings.

Both sexes were advised to avoid garlic or onion breath.

"Glasses should always be kept clean," the code instructs. "On the one hand this gives you optimal vision, and on the other hand dirty glasses create an appearance of negligence."

Male employees were also warned about using hair dyes to mask advancing age - "artificial colour contrasts excessively with the actual age of your skin".

The guidelines recommended skin-coloured underwear for women and wristwatches for both sexes should be chosen to signal "trustworthiness and a serious concern for punctuality".

The guide prompted derision and disbelief when it first surfaced last month.

The code only applies to staff who deal face-to-face with clients, and UBS has previously said it had been "misunderstood".

"People made fun of UBS," Mr Kern told Swiss weekly Sonntag. "But it didn't cause any damage to our reputation."

The new guide will focus on just a few mandatory elements, chiefly the requirement for retail staff to wear the bank's official colours, black, white and red, Mr Kern said.

Giving an example, Mr Kern said: "Men will be required to wear a dark-coloured suit, a white shirt and a red tie, and women a female equivalent of this." He added that the dress code remains under review.

The bank, the largest in Switzerland, has a history of providing detailed advice for its employees, in a manner typical of Swiss fastidiousness.For example, a UBS handbook for bank trainees gives a country-by-country behaviour guide.

In Russia, it tells employees to be prepared to hold your drink at business engagements and to "never reject an invitation to the sauna".

In the United States, it says, "never criticise the president" and in Latin America, "turning up before an appointment might even be considered rude".