Dimon faces shareholder pressure over dual role and climate record at JPMorgan

JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon faced a protest vote against his re-election as chair and CEO at the bank’s annual meeting on Tuesday, amid accusations that its backtracking on climate showed “a clear failure of leadership at the top”.

Shareholder advocacy group ShareAction said it was urging shareholders to vote against Dimon’s re-election after the lender removed restrictions on thermal coal and Arctic oil and gas.

“JPMorgan’s backtracking on climate is a clear failure of leadership at the top,” said Kelly Shields, a senior campaign manager at ShareAction, alleging that the bank is “piling risk” on to a system already under strain from the climate crisis.

The protest vote follows similar action urged by ShareAction against the chairs of UK lenders NatWest and HSBC, which saw a slight dip in shareholder support for their re-election at their AGMs held recently.

It is not the first time Dimon has faced down a possible revolt from shareholder activists. In 2012, around 40 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of a nonbinding proposal to strip Dimon of his chair role amid the so-called “London Whale” trading scandal, which saw JPMorgan incur losses of $6.2bn.

The scandal involved JPMorgan’s chief investment office, where trader Bruno Iksil, aka the London Whale, accumulated large positions in credit default swaps, which led to the losses.

In 2013, JPMorgan’s chief also fought off shareholder efforts to strip him of his dual role as chair and chief executive of the global lender.

The 2013 shareholder motion was led by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and supported by some prominent shareholder advisory firms. But the vote against Dimon’s dual role won just 32.2 per cent of votes, Politico reported at the time.

However, Dimon’s dual role continues to inspire controversy.

At JPMorgan’s AGM in 2024, a proposal to split the CEO and chair positions was supported by around 43 per cent of shareholders, a greater portion than in similar votes at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, according to media reports.

Proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis have also reportedly thrown their weight behind a shareholder resolution at JPMorgan’s AGM this year, calling for separate people to hold the roles of chair and chief executive.

In correspondence with Glass Lewis ahead of Tuesday’s AGM, JPMorgan argued that support for the proposal had declined, notably, from 2024 to 2025.

Its board recommends shareholders vote against the proposal, saying its “combined leadership structure” is overseen by an otherwise independent board and lead independent director, and that the lender continues to deliver “strong results” under its current system.

Earlier this year, JPMorgan’s asset management arm announced it was ending its long-held practice of using external proxy advisers like ISS and Glass Lewis for advice on shareholder voting decisions, according to Business Insider.

The move follows an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump in December calling for greater oversight of the US proxy adviser industry.

JPMorgan was contacted for comment.