JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was handed a rare rebuke on Tuesday with the shareholder disapproval of his large retention bonus introduced by the financial institution final yr.
Simply 31% of investors collaborating within the New York-based financial institution’s annual shareholder assembly supported the $52.6 million award that was a part of Dimon’s 2021 compensation bundle.
The bonus, within the type of 1.5 million options that Dimon can train in 2026, was designed to hold the CEO and chairman on the helm of JPMorgan for one more 5 years. Its estimated worth, pegged final yr, fluctuates and relies on the financial institution’s share worth appreciation, in accordance to financial institution spokesman Joe Evangelisti.
“The special award was extremely rare — the first in more than a decade for Mr. Dimon — and it reflected exemplary leadership and additional incentive for a successful leadership transition,” Evangelisti stated.
Whereas the outcomes of the so-called “say on pay” vote are nonbinding, JPMorgan’s board stated it takes investor suggestions “seriously” and meant Dimon’s bonus to be a one-time occasion, he added.
The disapproval was the primary time JPMorgan’s board suffered a down vote on compensation for the reason that pay-watch measures have been launched greater than a decade in the past. Dimon, 66, has led JPMorgan since 2006, serving to information it by way of a number of crises and constructing it into the largest U.S. financial institution by property.
Earlier this month, proxy advisory corporations together with Glass, Lewis & Co. really helpful that shareholders vote against the pay bundle of Dimon and his prime lieutenant, Daniel Pinto. Together with the retention bonus, Dimon’s pay final yr was valued at $84.4 million.
“Excessive one-off grants to the CEO and COO amid tepid relative performance worsen long-standing concerns regarding the company’s executive-pay program,” Glass Lewis stated in its report.
Dimon and his different administrators obtained help in any other case from investors, which is extra typical of a shareholder vote at a big firm.
Glass Lewis had additionally suggested that shareholders vote in opposition to the compensation of rival CEO David Solomon, who leads Goldman Sachs and was awarded a $30 million retention bonus in October. In that case, nevertheless, about 82% of Goldman’s shareholders voted in favor of administration.
