March 26 (Bloomberg) - JPMorgan Chase & Co. will delay contributions to 401(k) retirement plans for salaried employees until the end of the year and may reduce the payments, according to a person who received a company memo on the changes.

Workers making $50,000 to $250,000 annually will cease getting the contributions every two weeks and may see the benefits adjusted to a yet-to-be-decided amount, according to the person, who declined to be identified because the New York- based bank hasn't disclosed the new policy. The dollar-to-dollar match for those earning less than $50,000 will not change, the person said.

JPMorgan, which is the biggest US bank by deposits and has a global workforce of about 200,000, doesn't contribute to retirement plans of employees with annual salaries of more than $250,000.

"JPMorgan is using this period to tighten up all of if its costs structures right across the board," said Richard Bove, an analyst at Rochdale Securities in Lutz, Florida. CEO Jamie Dimon is "just battening down the hatches".

JPMorgan spokesman Brian Marchiony declined to comment.

US companies are cutting back matching contributions to employee retirement plans to save cash, and the trend is growing, according to a survey by Spectrem Group. The survey of 150 US companies found that 34 percent have reduced or eliminated retirement-plan contributions since January 2008. In the next 12 months, 29 percent intend to scale back or eliminate their match, the survey showed.

At least 148 US employers have stopped or reduced 401(k) matching contributions since June 2008, including General Motors Corp., Eastman Kodak Co., Motorola Inc., Sears Holdings Corp. Hewlett-Packard Co. and Xerox Corp., according to the Pension Rights Center, which is pushing for retirement savings alternatives to the 401(k).