Jamie Dimon has had a rough couple of years, corp-gov wise. In 2013 he survived a vote to relieve him of the BoD chair position. A few weeks ago, shareholders approved exec comp by a relatively narrow margin. Both times, proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis advised clients to vote against him (for separate CEO and BoD positions, and against in this year's say-on-pay vote).
No surprise, then, that at an investor conference this week, Dimon calls investors who rely on proxy advisors "lazy", and further complains:
God knows how any of you can place your vote based on ISS or Glass Lewis. If you do that, you are just irresponsible, I'm sorry. And you probably aren't a very good investor, either.
Of course, neither ISS nor Glass Lewis ever discloses their clients. We suspect that JP Morgan Asset Management is among them, based on its Global Proxy Voting Procedures and Guidelines.
JPMAM "may, but shall not be obligated to, retain the services of an independent proxy voting service ("Independent Voting Service")." Further:
The Independent Voting Service [handles] various functions...: ... ensure that all proxy materials are processed in a timely fashion; providing JPMAM with a comprehensive analysis of each proxy proposal and ... with recommendations on how to vote each proxy proposal based on [JPMAM] Guidelines or, where no Guideline exists or where the Guidelines require a case-by-case analysis, on the Independent Voting Service's analysis; and executing the voting of the proxies in accordance with Guidelines and its recommendation...
Sound a lot like ISS and Glass Lewis to us.
JPMAM has $1.7 trillion in AUM globally, across thousands of equities. Even though it's optional, they can't possibly "vote proxies in the best interests of its clients" without help from ISS or Glass Lewis.
We wonder what JPMAM clients think of the "lazy," "irresponsible," not very good PMs there right now.
MRL
