Early reports indicate that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) shareholders seem to have voted to keep Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon in both roles at the bank. That’s according to New York Times reporters Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Susanne Craig, who are covering the bank’s annual meeting today.
These results are not yet final, as JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is still accepting votes from shareholders this morning. But the reporters cite sources who have had a peek at the preliminary tallies of today’s shareholder vote on the issue.
At issue is the question of whether Dimon can handle both the CEO and chairman roles at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), one of the largest U.S. banks. The subject has been brought up in the wake of the London Whale trading losses last year, which were in the billions.
At this point we don’t know just how close the margin is. We do know that a few large shareholders announced their views on the issue already. The California Public Employees Retirement System, also known as Calpers, submitted its votes against Dimon keeping both roles on Monday ahead of today’s meeting. Another major shareholder, T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., said it would vote for Dimon to keep both of his roles at the bank.
The members of the bank’s risk committee have also been criticized by Institutional Shareholder Services, a reputable shareholder advisory firm. The question of whether they should keep their positions was also included on today’s ballot.
According to the report from Silver-Greenberg and Craig, it appears as if the risk committee members will also keep their positions. They said that out of the three directors on the committee, the one who has received the least support so far is American Museum of Natural History president Ellen Futter. She has reportedly received 50 to 60 percent of the early vote tally.
We should hear the final official report from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) later today.
