Fashion Police Stalk Stock Markets Dress Code Violators Can Face Fines, Other Disciplinary Action
Your mother didn’t need to tell you to tuck in your shirt, spit out your gum, and dispense with the dirty words after all.
She could have just shipped you off to a summer job on Wall Street.
Securities regulators and financial exchanges have more rules of decorum than Emily Post, issuing dictums on everything from socks (wear them, and make sure they cover your ankles) to sex (no revealing, sheer blouses, and don’t even think about wearing a halter).
Most of the Miss Manners lists emanate from the nation’s stock and commodities exchanges, where the bosses apparently fret that they’d better spell out exactly what the rules are, or risk prevailing over the financial district version of Animal House.
Stockbrokers who deal with the public recently learned that they too will soon have to endure a decorum rule that prohibits cursing prospects on the phone. Last month, the National Association of Securities Dealers sent a proposal to the Securities and Exchange Commission that would prohibit brokers from cursing at or threatening customers on the telephone.
If a stockbroker were to dress badly, though, neither the customer nor presumably the regulators, would much care. Violate dress codes on the floors of an exchange where the public could be watching, though, and risk a mark on your record and perhaps a serious annoyance fine.
At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, members had better not roll their jacket sleeves above the elbow or leave more than one shirt button undone unless they’re willing to risk a fine. Wear golf shirts, tie-dyed shirts, or forget to tuck your shirt in and you’re also at risk for a fine and a disciplinary notice.
The Merc also proscribes the wearing of such offensive items as Indian moccasins, work boots, duck boots, moon boots and bedroom slippers. While it does not specifically rule out pajamas on the floor, there is a section that prohibits harem pants, “pants with stripes on the sides,” pants with decorative zippers and leg warmers.
And knock it off with the babushkas, “revealing blouses,” and anything that involves the exposure of bare midriffs, the Merc rules say.
Considering the frequently chilly climate the Merc’s workers have to endure, violators of the bare midriff rule are likely few and far between. Exchanges, though, do appear to consider regional factors in issuing the dictums of professional dress.
Like other exchanges, the Pacific Stock Exchange rules out “abusive or indecorous language,” running on the floor, standing on chairs and furniture and the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Unless the latter is waived by a committee.
The pressure can mount big-time on the high-stakes floor of an exchange, so it makes sense that the bosses have sketched out a few punishments in the event a fist fight should break out.
Give someone a good shove on the floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and risk a $500 fine on the first push. That increases to $1,500 for the second offense and $2,000 if it becomes a habit.
Punch a colleague - as opposed to a more subtle shove - and pay more. The CBOE fine for a first offense is $1,500, $3,000 for the second, and $5,000 for subsequent slugs.
A potential profit center for the exchange in a slow market.
You never know what new offense might be committed on the exchange floor so, from time to time management must issue a bulletin not yet on the books.
The American Stock Exchange in 1991, for instance, issued an advisory to prohibit the throwing of objects on the trading floor, including food and liquids. “In particular, the throwing of objects from the balcony or mezzanine areas” would not be tolerated, the memo said.
And the next year, the Pacific Stock Exchange in Los Angeles found it necessary to post a memo that banned spitballs and airborne rubber bands.
While most exchanges were willing to share copies of their decorum policies, few were anxious to get into specific examples of the mischief its members had gotten into.
Suffice it to say, “that the reason these guys have things like no-spitball rules is because they do throw spitballs,” says Morgan Bentley, a lawyer who once worked in the arbitration department of the NYSE.
Muriel Siebert, the owner of a discount brokerage firm and the first woman to have a seat on the NYSE, says she was crestfallen when the Big Board decided back in the 1960s - just as she was about to go to work there - that playing with yo-yos on the floor was bad form.
“I was a yo-yo champ in Cleveland, and I can still do around the world,” Siebert boasts, irritated that she never got a chance to show off on the floor.
Though NYSE members like Siebert say profanity is a no-no on the floor, the NYSE refused to supply a copy of its decorum policy to confirm it. Fairly common practice, though, is to slap violators of decorum rules with a disciplinary notice that lists a fine.
Siebert didn’t violate the yo-yo ban, but owns up to behavior that would be in violation of today’s NYSE rules against profanity.
“Language is language,” she said, adding that the F-word doesn’t mean anything to her anymore. “I used to be shocked and then I accepted it.”
xxxx BY THE RULES At the Pacific Stock Exchange, it is verboten “for both men and women” to arrive at work in an Aloha shirt. The exchange also prohibits tie-dyed shirts, thongs, bare midriffs, and halter tops. “Abbreviated clothing of any kind” will be questioned.