It looks like Wells Fargo‘s 300,000 employees may soon be able to bring their own mobile devices to work after all.

The San Francisco-based bank is apparently testing the use of Bring Your Own Device, known as BYOD, The Wall Street Journal‘s CIO Journal blog reported today.

The test would be a dramatic turnaround for the company. In June 2012, Wells Fargo Corporate CIO Jim Spicer told the very same CIO Journal that he was “having none of ‘bring your own device.'” Employees were not clamoring for it, he said, nor was it essential for recruiting top talent in Wells Fargo’s highly competitive market.

At that time, Wells Fargo only allowed employees to use the company’s own Windows and iOS-based mobile devices. Using iOS, Spicer acknowledged, made the policy a little easier on Apple-loving employees in the Bay Area, where Wells is headquartered. Mobile devices were essential for communication in a geographically dispersed company as Wells Fargo, and one-sixth of company employees made regular use of them.

Now, however, BYOD is being considered “if for no other reason than it needs its employees on the same technology as its customers,” according to CIO Journal.

BYOD is actually nothing new for banks, according to Gartner research vice president Leslie Fiering. Bank of America Corp. already had BYOD plans in place in June 2012. “It may seem counterintuitive, but financial services companies were also early adopters of security features like network access controls and in identifying, isolating and protecting key financial data,” Fiering told the CIO Journal.

Besides, 50,000 mobile devices for the one-sixth of Wells employees represent a major expense, so BYOD may cut costs on some fronts, but is likely to increase IT headaches.