“JPMorgan Chase [NYSE: JPM] shareholders voted to allow CEO Jamie Dimon to keep his dual role as CEO and chairman of the board of directors, which critics say gives him too much unchecked power over the biggest bank in the U.S. by assets.
About 68.8 percent of the shareholders voted to keep Dimon’s existing executive roles. Dimon has been chairman of the board since Dec. 2006 and CEO and president since Dec. 2005. He has been a director since 2000, according to the company.
“‘The voting showed that a lot of shareholders are upset with recent risk management problems, but aren’t sure exactly where to place the blame,’ said James Sinegal, director of financial services research at Morningstar.
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“Sinegal said he was surprised that the proposal to separate Dimon’s chairman and CEO roles received less support than last year, but he said he supported the decision.
“‘Companies like Berkshire Hathaway and Apple have done well with one person in both roles, and it would be difficult to find someone as talented as Dimon to fill the chairman spot,’ Sinegal said.
“Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets Inc., is in the other camp, saying a bank’s past positive performance is not sufficient evidence against reforming corporate governance.
“‘All Wall Street ‘too big to fail’ banks had record performance before 2008, quarter after quarter and year after year,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately for the American people, much of that performance came from high risk and reckless trading that ultimately crashed the global financial system.'”
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Read full ABC News article here
