Jamie Dimon, who survived a shareholder proposal in 2013 to split his chairman and chief executive officer roles atop JPMorgan Chase (JPM), won't face the same threat this year.
Investors withdrew the only petition for the annual meeting that would've pressed the board to name an independent chairman, Joseph Evangelisti, a spokesman for the New York lender, said Thursday. That proposal, from Toledo, Ohio-based Needmor Fund, sought to separate the positions for Dimon's eventual successor, the lender said in a news release.
Dimon, 57, kept both jobs at the biggest U.S. lender even as he agreed to more than $23 billion in legal and regulatory settlements last year. Last May, a proposal to split the duties failed with 32 percent of shareholder votes. Dimon has had both roles since chairman William B. Harrison stepped down in 2006.
JPMorgan "continues to welcome an ongoing dialogue with the proponents and other corporate-governance professionals focusing on major issues related to the chair and CEO roles," the lender said.
Advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services has said splitting the chairman and CEO roles would improve oversight. Dimon told some investors last year that he might resign if the nonbinding measure to split his duties passed, a person with knowledge of the conversation said at the time.
JPMorgan said in September that the board will hold executive sessions without company management at every regular meeting, make members available to meet with major shareholders and won't rotate the lead independent director position annually.
Lee R. Raymond was named lead independent director in September. Raymond, formerly presiding director, was given additional powers including the authority to call meetings at any time, add agenda items, and guide the board in succession discussions, the bank said.
Goldman Sachs Group (GS) reached an agreement with an investor last year to drop a proposal for an independent chairman, after giving expanded responsibilities to its lead independent director.
JPMorgan said a second shareholder proposal that was withdrawn this year came from investors including the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth. The bank agreed to issue a report similar to what the religious group suggested describing the steps taken to improve risk controls.
