Dimon may remain JPMorgan chair when he eventually quits as CEO

JPMorgan Chase said Jamie Dimon may stay on as chair of the board when he eventually steps down as chief executive officer. 

The bank plans to separate the two roles “upon the next CEO transition,” it said in a proxy statement Monday. The measure remains “subject to the board’s determination of the leadership structure that best serves the firm and its shareholders at the time,” the bank said.

Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg

Many shareholders “expressed a general preference for separate chair and CEO positions,” the New York-based company said in the filing. “Notably, a substantial majority of those with whom we engaged, including most of our top holders, indicated support for a policy that would enable our current CEO to serve as non-executive chair at the next leadership transition.”

Dimon has been CEO of JPMorgan since the end of 2005 and became chairman at the end of 2006. He’s long joked that his retirement is five years away, no matter when he’s asked, and last year the firm’s board of directors granted the billionaire a special bonus to persuade him to stick around for another “significant number of years.” That brought his pay ratio compared to the median JPMorgan employee last year to 917:1, the firm said in the filing.