JPMorgan's Dimon joins U.S. CEOs condemning Virginia violence

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon joined U.S. corporate leaders in denouncing racial intolerance that turned violent over the weekend in Charlottesville, Va., and promised the largest U.S. bank will find ways to help the community.

“The racist behavior on display by these perpetrators of hate should be condemned and has no place in a country that draws strength from our diversity and humanity,” Dimon told staff Monday in a memo. It was “a stark reminder that we must recommit ourselves every day as a society to stand up and uphold the values that bind us as Americans.”

JPMorgan will work with local nonprofits to find ways to support those values, he said.

Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

White supremacists and other hate groups had massed in Charlottesville to hold a weekend rally, setting off a daylong melee. One woman was killed and others were injured after a man in a car rammed a group of counterdemonstrators. Scores of business leaders have since made statements in response.

Dimon, who’s also chairman of the Business Roundtable lobbying group, issued a joint statement with that organization’s CEO, Joshua Bolten.

“America’s business leaders are shocked at the violence that took place in Charlottesville, and we mourn the unnecessary loss of life,” they said. “The CEOs of Business Roundtable will never accept such intolerance and hate. We will continue to build our companies around the principles of respect, trust and equal opportunity to all our employees.”

Dimon has remained on President Trump’s strategic and policy forum amid repeated controversy all year. Those debates intensified Monday after three chief executives — Merck's Kenneth Frazier, Intel's Brian Krzanich and Under Armour's Kevin Plank — stepped down from a manufacturing-advisory council to the White House in protest of what many saw as the president's initial, equivocal response to the Charlottesville incident. Trump issued a stronger condemnation on Monday.

Dimon has said previously that while he disagrees with the president from time to time, he views his service on the council as a patriotic duty. He has taken steps to distance himself from some of the president’s most controversial positions. He disagreed with Trump's decision to exit the Paris climate accord and was one of several CEOs who criticized the White House’s proposed immigration ban on Muslim-majority countries.

American Banker contributed to this article.