Two proxy advisory firms are once again urging shareholders at JPMorgan Chase (JPM) to name an independent director as its board chairman.
Jamie Dimon is both chairman and chief executive of the nation's largest banking company. The advisory firms Glass Lewis and ISS Proxy Services had said previously that the company could better manage its risk if it split the two roles, and they reiterated their positions Monday following revelations that JPMorgan Chase's Chief Investment Office lost the company more than $2 billion on risky trades, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Another advisory firm, Egan-Jones Ratings, said it is comfortable that the banking giant is taking steps to improve its risk profile and is advising shareholders to vote against any proposal to name an independent chairman.
On Monday, JPMorgan Chase's chief investment officer, Ina Drew, resigned and was replaced by Matt Zames, an executive in the bank's investment unit, according to several news outlets. Citing an internal memo, the news reports said that Zames was set to name a new chief financial officer and chief risk officer in the Chief Investment Office and was expected to shake up the London office where the trades were executed.
JPMorgan Chase's annual meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.
Also on Monday, a prominent lawmaker called for Dimon to resign from the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Echoing comments made by Elizabeth Warren, who is running for a Senate seat in Massachusetts, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, said, "It is an obvious conflict of interest for Jamie Dimon, the CEO of the largest bank in America, to serve on the New York Fed's board of directors. This is a clear example of the fox guarding the henhouse."
