NEW YORK, March 21 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase ( JPM )

Chief Operating Officer Jenn Piepszak said the bank was making

some changes to its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and

the language it uses to describe them in an effort to keep up

with the market and changes in regulations, according to a memo

seen by Reuters.

The bank was changing "equity" to "opportunity" and renaming

it Diversity, Opportunity and Inclusion, from DEI, the memo sent

out earlier on Friday said.

"The "e" always meant equal opportunity to us, not equal

outcomes, and we believe this more accurately reflects our

ongoing approach to reach the most customers and clients to grow

our business, create an inclusive workplace for our employees

and increase access to opportunities," Piepszak said in the

memo.

The DOI organization will continue to report to Thelma

Ferguson, she said.

Some of the diversity programs that were managed centrally

by the DOI organization will now be integrated into different

lines of business including human resources or corporate

responsibility.

"This means some activities, councils or chapters may be

consolidated to streamline our process and engagement strategy,"

Piepszak said.

The bank also plans to reduce training on these topics.

In a regulatory filing last month, the largest U.S. lender

said it expected to face criticism on some of its business

practices, including DEI. In its latest annual filing it had

only one mention of DEI, in contrast with six mentions in the

previous years.

Several major U.S. and some European companies have dropped

or altered their DEI policies following President Donald Trump's

executive order to curtail such programs in the U.S.

Even before Trump took office, big corporations were under

increasing pressure from conservative groups to cut back or

tweak their DEI policies aimed at boosting racial and ethnic

representation in the workplace.

Last month, Citigroup ( C/PN ) said it will no longer require a

diverse slate of candidates for job interviews and said it was

changing the name of the "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and

Talent Management" team to "Talent Management and Engagement."

Similarly, Goldman Sachs ( GS ) canceled a four-year-old

policy of exclusively taking public companies with at least two

diverse board members. It also dropped an entire section

dedicated to "diversity and inclusion" from its annual filing.