Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is 10:00 A.M. I'm pleased to call to order the annual meeting of the shareholders of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Welcome. I am Jamie Dimon, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase, and Chairman of this meeting. The video you just saw shows our commitment to the state and people of Texas. In the audience today are a number of our employees from Dallas-Fort Worth. I'd like to both thank them for attending and thank them for all the great things they do for their community. With me today is Stacey Friedman, our General Counsel. Stacey will serve as Secretary of this meeting and will lead us through the agenda. Stacey?
Thank you. First, again, my welcome as well to everybody who's here today. Hopefully, most of you, or all of you are customers as well as shareholders. We have with us today the Executive Office. I think Larry Tody's here, our Head of the Executive Office. If you have questions about the products or services or anything that we do or can do for you, please let Larry know or his team know after the meeting outside. Just to take care of the rules of the meeting, as a reminder, no personal devices, cell phones, electronic equipment for recording, photo-taking, or video-taking. That's prohibited for the meeting. For the business of the meeting, under the rules, I do have the affidavit of mailing of the notice of the meeting. I have the proxy statement, the form of the proxy, and the annual report.
The shareholders list is available for inspection, and representatives of American Election Services have been appointed as the Inspector of Elections. The meeting is properly convened. We have a quorum. The proposed resolution set forth in the proxy statement will be filed as part of this proceeding. It is right now 10:04 A.M., and we will declare the polls open. They will remain open until we declare them closed at the end of the meeting. Just so you guys know, in advance of the meeting, just before the beginning, we have received over 88% of the outstanding shares eligible to vote. Those votes are now deemed voted in accordance with the shareholders' wishes. If there are shareholders, by the way, here who haven't voted or wish to change their votes, just let us know towards the end.
We will collect your proxy, and we'll make sure it's reflected in the final voting results. Just a reminder, today's statements may contain forward-looking information. Please refer to our agenda or to our annual report filed with the SEC on Form 10-K regarding our disclaimer around those statements. I think, Jamie, that completes the necessary formalities. Why don't you introduce the directors and common of the company?
Stacey, thank you. First, I'd like to recognize our directors. If I could ask each one of you to stand up as I introduce you. Audience, please hold your applause until all the directors are introduced. The directors are Linda Bammann, Stephen Burke, Todd Combs, James Crown, Timothy Flynn, Mellody Hobson, Laban Jackson, Michael Neal, Lee Raymond, William Weldon. James Bell, a retired Executive Vice President of The Boeing Company, could not be with us today. I'd also want to acknowledge Crandall C. Bowles, who did not stand for reelection for her 10 years of service on the board. I'm proud to tell you these directors are completely dedicated and committed and play a huge part in making this a great company. In addition to the directors, we also have here with us today, Kathryn Kaminski, our audit partner from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Just raise your hand, Kathryn.
I want to thank all of you for being here. Thank you. We are pleased to be here in Dallas-Fort Worth today, where we've been doing business for over 100 years. Our earliest predecessor in Dallas started out in 1916 with $7,000 in cash and opened in a Main Street storefront that had been a saloon. Today, JPMorgan Chase is the largest financial institution in Texas, with the number one market share and about 25,000 employees across the state. There are more JPMorgan Chase employees in Texas than any other state outside of New York, and I'm sure it'll be number one soon. In addition, Chase has 10 million consumer customers statewide. Our growth here has been striking. We've grown from 36 branches in 2003 to more than 200 branches today.
Dallas is a hub for our mortgage business. All of our lines of business are represented here, from our Chase Consumer & Community Banking franchise to J.P. Morgan Private Bank, our Corporate & Investment Bank, our commercial bank. Today, Chase serves more than 3.4 million consumer customers and 8,000 small businesses in North Texas. On the corporate side, JPMorgan Chase serves more than 272,000 businesses in North Texas. Our merchant services business is based in the beautiful Plano campus. Our new corporate campus in Plano is home to 6,500 employees. It's state-of-the-art, environmentally sustainable, shows our deep commitment to Texas. One other thing that makes me so proud is our firm's steadfast commitment to veterans. Over the last six years, JPMorgan Chase hired 2,800 veterans in Texas alone, the most of any state in the nation.
As we continue to grow our presence in Dallas and throughout Texas, we continue to invest in our community to create more opportunities for more people to share in the economic prosperity of the state. Like our $10 million commitment for regional workforce training, our commitment to entrepreneurs bringing capital and assistance to support small business. Just last year, we brought one of our most important forums to Dallas, The Fellowship Initiative, to help young men of color have a chance to succeed by getting them into and through college. Our total annual philanthropic investment in this area is $3.6 million a year. We're not only committing our resources, even more important, the time and talent of some of our best employees to help Texas continue to grow.
We're proud of the work we've done to help Dallas flourish and grateful to our community partners for their support and collaboration. We will continue to be there for you as you grow with us. I'll turn to our company's performance in 2017. Throughout a period of continued political and economic change around the world, our company has been steadfast in our dedication to clients, communities, and countries we serve while earning a fair profit for our shareholders. 2017 was another record year in many measures for our company as we added clients and customers and delivered record earnings per share. We earned $24.4 billion net income on revenues of $103.6 billion, reflecting strong underlying performance across all of our businesses. We've now delivered record results in seven of the last eight years, and we have confidence we'll continue to do so in the future.
Taking a deeper look at our franchises, they are strong and market-leading. Today, each of the businesses is among the top performers financially. More important, each business has gained share in recent years, and that is only possible when you're improving customer satisfaction and enhancing your products and services relative to the competition. Each business continues to grow organically and continues to innovate, whether it's customer-facing apps, straight-through processing, digitized trading service and account openings, payment systems, among others. With that foundation, we're optimistic about future growth opportunities. We believe that the underlying growth of the U.S. and global economy will continue to drive the future growth of our company. We'll continue to build our businesses to serve our customers by adding investment bankers and private bankers around the world, adding consumer and commercial banking branches in the United States.
In fact, recently we announced we plan to build up to 400 Chase branches in 15-20 new markets, which means we'll have to hire 4,000-5,000 additional employees just for those branches over the next five years. As we enter these new markets, we'll also increase our small business lending by 20%, or $4 billion, and increase home lending in moderate income communities by 25% to $50 billion. Equally important is using technology to do a better job in serving clients to grow our business with better products and services. One of the reasons we're performing well as a company is we never stop investing in our company, technology, and people, and this should never change. As we continue to keep our company healthy and vibrant, built for the long term to serve our clients, there's a lot we are doing to lift up our communities.
We believe in being great corporate citizens, both in how we treat our employees and care for our clients and our communities. For example, we continue to strengthen the diversity of our workforce. We have more than 242,000 employees globally, and women represent 50% of our employees. Notably, today, women represent 50% of my direct reports and more than 30% of the company's senior leadership. In addition, 48% of the firm's population is ethnically diverse in the U.S. We've accomplished an extraordinary amount in our corporate responsibility efforts. This year, we announced we'll increase our philanthropic investments by 40%, which means that over the next five years, we'll spend $1.75 billion to help drive inclusive growth in communities around the world.
We've creatively expanded certain flagship corporate responsibility programs, including the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund, which gets a venture fund to help minorities grow their businesses, The Fellowship Initiative, our New Skills for Youth initiative, by applying our successful Detroit investment model to neighborhood revitalization efforts in the South Bronx, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., among others. I'd like to spend a minute talking about the critical issues confronting our country and some public policy considerations that might help all of Americans. I've written extensively on these issues in the past, I encourage you to read my annual letter to shareholders if you'd like a more detailed view. I'll start by saying the United States is truly an exceptional country with many blessings.
It's clear that something is holding us back, including we have an uncompetitive tax system, labor force participation is too low, education is leaving too many behind, infrastructure is essentially a disaster, our immigration policy is flawed in many ways, healthcare costs are too high, and excessive regulation to do growth and business formation. To confront these issues, we need the business community and government to come together and collaborate to find meaningful solutions to create better outcomes in education, healthcare, and job creation. A few initiatives that could create economic growth and greater opportunity include expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to significantly spread the benefit, reduce fraud, and get more into people's hands, improving work skills and training that lead to better jobs, and supporting prisoner reentry programs to create opportunities that strengthen communities.
Lastly, I'd like to mention global engagement and trade and reinforce that America's role in the world is critical. Retreating from the world is not a solution, nor is burning down the system and starting anew. At the same time, we cannot and should not turn a blind eye to the real pressures millions of families face at the hands of globalization, technological advances, and other factors. Ultimately, government must address these issues through thoughtful policies and work skill training. Increasingly, the private sector must also play a meaningful role. We must all collaborate and respect each other to make the world a better place. Let me close by thanking our more than 240,000 employees, including our exceptional senior management team, many of whom are here today, and our board of directors.
Our board of directors is fully engaged in all the critical matters of the company, from setting the agenda of board meetings to reviewing strategy, to helping carry the culture and determine CEO compensation and succession planning. We also have a strong corporate culture that we will continue to fortify, we're actively combating bureaucracy and complacency that can often affect large and small companies. Personally, I'm humbled to work at this company with its great people. I love seeing our people close up in action. I'd like to end by expressing my deep gratitude to all the employees of JPMorgan Chase. I'd like to hand off to Lee Raymond, our Lead Director, for some additional remarks. Lee?
Morning. Thanks, Jamie. On behalf of my colleagues on the board, I'd like to thank our fellow shareholders for participating in today's meeting. For those of you who are employee shareholders, thank you for the work you do every day for J.P. Morgan. As Jamie has described, 2017 was another strong year for the company. On many measures as we achieved healthy growth across all of our businesses, adding clients and customers and delivering record earnings per share. Most importantly, the firm maintained its fortress balance sheet discipline and client focus, and we continued to build value for our shareholders. Your board continues to focus on issues that are important to us and to our shareholders. Because this has been an especially notable year, I'd like to highlight a few for you.
To begin, having a first-rate management team in place is one of the highest priorities of the board. To see that we continue to do so, management succession planning is a key focus of your board. The independent directors know the firm's senior leaders very well and believe that under all timing scenarios, the firm has in place highly capable successors to Jamie and other members of the operating committee who are well prepared to meet future challenges. We recently announced that Jamie will continue in his current role for approximately five more years, and that Daniel Pinto, the CEO of our Corporate & Investment Bank, and Gordon Smith, the CEO of Consumer & Community Banking, have been appointed co-presidents and co-chief operating officers. In their new roles, Daniel and Gordon will work with Jamie to help drive critical firm-wide opportunities.
These changes are consistent with the board's commitment to succession planning. The board also has spent significant time on the firm's strategy. The firm's strategic priorities and management's annual and multi-year plans reflect our belief that our business model enhances long-term shareholder value and focuses on addressing challenges, such as accelerating the pace with which we deliver innovation and change. To that end, we have placed a priority on investing in innovation and new technology initiatives that allow us to deliver products and services that are more valuable to our customers. We remain committed to an effective and efficient risk and control environment. While the firm has strong controls, we are always striving for continuous improvement. Throughout the past year, the board has spent significant time on overseeing management's efforts to continue to strengthen our infrastructure and enhance our controls while improving the client and customer experience.
Cyber security defense and improving our resiliency against cyber security threats remains a key focus at all levels of management within the firm and on the board. As part of risk management, we also take very seriously our responsibility to set the tone at the top. The commitment to a strong and healthy culture at JPMorgan Chase remains steadfast. The board provides direct oversight of the firm's culture and conduct program. This year, there was continued emphasis on our business principles in cultivating strong, cohesive culture across all levels of the firm. The board is also very mindful of its own succession planning. We are focused on ensuring that we have the right mix of skills and experiences to align with JPMorgan's business strategy. We conduct an annual board evaluation process and an ongoing review of the board's composition and potential candidates.
Maintaining an appropriate balance of experience and fresh perspective is also a key objective. We are pleased to welcome the newest member of our board, Mellody Hobson, President of Ariel Investments, LLC, whose election in March of 2018 reflects the board's commitment to seeking out and including top talent with fresh perspectives. Mellody brings to the board a remarkable combination of skills, experience, and personal qualities that will serve our shareholders and the firm and the board very well. We look forward to continuing to deliver value to our customers, shareholders, and communities. On behalf of all of my colleagues on the board, we are grateful for your support of the board and of JPMorgan. Thank you.
Thank you, Lee. Thank you, Jamie. Now it's time to turn to the proposals that are in the proxy statement. I will go ahead and introduce the management proposals. After that, I'll ask for the representatives who are here to introduce the shareholder proposals. We'll have general Q&A after that. For the management proposals, I formally now move that all of the proposals set forth in the proxy statement be brought forward. Number one, the election of the 12 nominees listed in our proxy statement as directors. Number two, ratification of the special meeting provisions in the firm's bylaws. Number three, an advisory resolution to approve executive compensation. Number four, approval of an amended and restated long-term incentive plan effective May 18th, 2018. Number five, ratification of the independent registered public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Now I'm going to ask the shareholder proponents to introduce their proposals.
Proponents, we ask that you limit your time to three minutes. Confine your comments to the subject matter of your proposal being presented, so that everybody has the opportunity to present today. I have a clock down here that will turn yellow at two. It'll turn red at three. There are two standing microphones, so please go to the one that's closest to you when I call on you. We ask that other speakers that might want to speak to these matters hold off until the general Q&A program at the end. Proposal number six was submitted by Mr. John Chevedden. We've been advised that Mr. Frank Rauscher will be presenting this proposal. Please proceed.
Good morning.
Good morning.
My name is Frank Rauscher. I'm with Aquinas Associates, and I'm representing John Chevedden on this proposal. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Lead Director, Mr. Raymond, other directors, Chase employees, and fellow shareholders, thank you for your attention. I'd like to just thank Mr. Dimon for having this meeting here in Plano. Your whole presence here is wonderful. I've been a resident of Plano for 20 years, and having you here and what Chase has done is really great, so thank you very much. The shareholders request the board of directors to adopt as policy and amend the governing documents as necessary to require that the chairman of the board of directors, whenever possible, to be an independent member of the board. The board would have the discretion to phase in this policy for the next Chief Executive Officer transition implemented so it's consistent with existing agreements.
If the board determines that a chairman who was independent when selected is no longer independent, the board shall select a new chairman who satisfies the requirements of the policy within a reasonable amount of time. Under the current JPMorgan structure, Jamie Dimon, who had a dual role of CEO and chairman since 2006, received the highest negative director votes in 2017. JPMorgan also seemed to need a new lead director who also helps a little in the oversight of a powerful chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The current lead director was age 78 and had 16 years long-term tenure. Long tenure can impair the independence of a lead director, no matter how well qualified, and Mr. Raymond is indeed very qualified. JPMorgan deserves best practices in corporate governance. A keystone of this is an independent chairman.
The 2008 financial crisis underscored risk management weaknesses in the practices of large, interconnected financial institutions such as JPMorgan. As the financial crisis unfolded in 2008, JPMorgan stock fell from $49 to $15 a share. Of course, it's back up. Please vote to improve oversight of the JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer, independent board chairman, proposal number six. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Our reasons for doing so appear on page 98 of the proxy statement. I'll now ask for the representative for proposal number 7 to come to the microphone. This was submitted by the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund. I think we've been advised that Mark York will do the presentation. Mr. York, go ahead and proceed.
Good morning. My name is Mark York, representing the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund to present item number 7 on the agenda. Our proposal urges the board of directors to prohibit the continued vesting of equity awards for senior executives who resign to enter into government service. Equity-based awards typically vest over a period of time as an incentive for continuing to work for our company. The practice addressed in this proposal, however, involves continued vesting of equity awards for employees who voluntarily resign from the company to enter into government service. In other words, a golden parachute for government service. After just five years at the company, employees who are not full career eligible may continue vesting in their outstanding stock awards.
For example, at the end of 2017, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon was eligible to continue vesting over $96 million in such awards if he had left for a government job. While government service is commendable, we question the practice of providing accelerated vesting of equity-based awards to executives who are leaving our company. We believe compensation plans should align interests of senior executives with long-term interests of the company. We oppose plans that provide windfalls to executives. Surely, we don't expect to receive favorable treatment from our former executives working for the government, which begs the question: how does our company benefit from providing government service golden parachutes? Seeing no clear answer, we urge the shareholders to vote for this proposal. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. York. We oppose this resolution. Our reasons for doing so are set forth on page 101 of the proxy statement. We'll turn to proposal number 8. This was submitted by Mr. William Rosenfeld. We've been advised that Mr. Eric Cohen will present the proposal. Mr. Cohen, go ahead and proceed.
Thank you. My name is Eric Cohen, co-founder of Investors Against Genocide. I'm here to present the proposal asking JPMorgan to report on investments tied to genocide and specifically explain how its investments in CNPC PetroChina are consistent with its corporate values. The CNPC PetroChina group is a notable example because of its substantial long-term support for the genocidal and murderous governments of Sudan, Burma, Syria, and Iran, and because for many years, JPMorgan has been a very large shareholder of PetroChina. PetroChina is a publicly traded arm of its controlling parent, CNPC. The company partners with those governments' oil industries, thereby helping fund government-sponsored genocide and crimes against humanity. Few of JPMorgan's customers and investors are aware of PetroChina's ties to genocide, but JPMorgan is well aware. Reasonable people may disagree on the definition of ethical investing, but who would knowingly invest in companies complicit in genocide?
Since we first raised this issue 11 years ago, JPMorgan has resisted acting. JPMorgan opposed our numerous genocide-free investing proposals, which asked it to avoid investments in companies substantially contributing to genocide. As recently as last month, JPMorgan increased its holdings in PetroChina. The shareholder proposal details some of JPMorgan's many statements on supporting human rights, developing best practices on human rights, signing on to UN principles for responsible investment, and even risk management processes to consider human rights. Given what JPMorgan says, one might assume incorrectly that JPMorgan takes reasonable steps to avoid and help its customers avoid investments tied to genocide. JPMorgan's investments in PetroChina demonstrate that it does not. JPMorgan's statement of opposition raises questions about the sincerity of its human rights commitments and particularly its UNPRI commitment to take ESG factors into account when making investment decisions.
JPMorgan claims that its fiduciary duty prevents it from avoiding investments tied to genocide. However, ever since the famous Department of Labor Calvert letter of 1998, we've known that environmental, social, and government considerations are consistent with fiduciary duties. JPMorgan implies that others are responsible for its problematic investments. This claim ignores JPMorgan's role in selecting and recommending investments. Why does JPMorgan not even act on shares it directly controls? If it cannot avoid such investments, why not provide clear disclosure so that customers do not inadvertently invest in companies tied to genocide? Why does JPMorgan help CNPC and PetroChina raise capital? If T. Rowe Price, TIAA- CREF, and others can take steps to avoid investments tied to genocide, why can't JPMorgan? JPMorgan has articulated powerful and important values.
That's why it's so important that JPMorgan evaluate and report on how it aligns its values with its policies regarding investments in companies tied to genocide. If JPMorgan fails to address the inconsistency between its commitments and its practice, its corporate values are a sad irrelevancy at best and a dangerous hypocrisy at worst.
Thank you, Mr. Cohen. We oppose this resolution. Our reasons for doing so are on page 103 of the proxy statement. Turning to proposal number nine. This was submitted by Mr. William Steiner. Mr. Rauscher, you're going to take this as well?
I want back again. Don't shoot the messenger, please. Actually, I personally believe that Mr. Dimon and Mr. Raymond are two of the finest executives the U.S. has ever seen, and I think that you all have done a great job for our community and our nation. These are on corporate governance issues. Shareholders recommend that the board of directors take the steps necessary to adopt cumulative voting. Cumulative voting means that each shareholder may cast as many votes as equal to the number of shares held, supplied by the number of directors to be elected. A shareholder may cast all such cumulative votes for a single candidate or focus on a few candidates. Under cumulative voting, shareholders can withhold votes from poor-performing directors in order to cast multiple votes for other director candidates. This is an important protection for shareholders.
Cumulative voting also allows a significant group of shareholders to elect a director of its choice, to safeguard minority shareholder interests and to bring greater independent risk management perspectives to the board decisions. Cumulative voting won 54% at Aetna, 51% in Alaska Air. It also received 53% support at General Motors in two annual elections. The Council of Institutional Investors and CalPERS recommended adoption of this proposal topic. Cumulative voting can be used by shareholders to elect one director with a highly focused specialization in banking risk management. This is of utmost importance because shareholders of big banks, such as JPMorgan, have paid tens of billions of dollars in fines since big bank managers failed to prevent misconduct related to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme and energy market manipulation, foreclosures, collateralized debt obligations, mortgage servicing, and foreign exchange rigging. Please vote for a means to improve risk management at JPMorgan.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you, Mr. Frank Rauscher. We oppose this resolution. Our reasons for doing so appear in the proxy at page 105. That does complete the introduction of the shareholder proposals. We oppose them for the reasons set forth in the proxy. We're now ready for the general Q&A, after which we will close the polls and present the preliminary voting results. There are two standing microphones in the back. If you wish to address the meeting, please go ahead and proceed to the microphones and take your place in line. I will ask that when you address the meeting, state your name and tell us whether or not you're a shareholder. Please do limit your remarks to three minutes, and we will limit ourselves to 10 minutes on any given topic. Please direct your questions to our Chair and CEO, Mr. Jamie Dimon. We'll start on the left.
If you'd like to go ahead and introduce yourself.
Good morning, Mr. Jamie Dimon, members of the board, and fellow shareholders. My name is Ann Roberts, and I'm with Dana Investment Advisors. We hold more than 320,000 shares of JPMorgan Chase on behalf of clients. I'm here this morning also on behalf of fellow members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, who are faith-based and values-driven investors to follow up on an engagement we had with members of your team several weeks ago.
We are concerned about the risks posed by JPMorgan Chase's financial ties to the private prison industry, specifically CoreCivic and GEO Group. As faith-based and values-driven investors, we feel it is fundamentally wrong to be garnering profit at the expense of people's liberty. The bank's business relationships with these companies, where there are widely reported human rights violations and crimes, seem to be at odds with JPMorgan's human rights policy and your own stated support for the rights and dignity of the immigrant community. My question this morning is this: Why does JPMorgan Chase collect fees and interest on credit, bonds, and loans to finance the growth of the private prison industry, as well as invest clients' money in shares of CoreCivic or GEO Group?
Why is JPMorgan supporting and indeed profiting from an industry in which the commodity is a human being, a captive human life, an immigrant, a refugee? We hope to continue this conversation with your colleagues in future dialogues. Thank you.
We appreciate your comments on the private prisons, and we understand that the fundamental issues that you've raised are of concern to all of us. We're interested in continuing the dialogue as well and look forward to it. Question on the right.
Hi. Good morning. My name is Justin Danhof. I'm General Counsel of the National Center for Public Policy Research for Investor. I want to ask about the company's controversial donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center. A New York Times commentary criticized the company for its donation to SPLC, noting that, "If Jamie Dimon had done his due diligence, he would know that SPLC is an organization that has lost its way, smearing people who are fighting for liberty." Similarly, a Wall Street Journal article also criticized the donation. It noted that the company donation was "working in tracking, exposing, and fighting hate groups and other extremist organizations." As columnist Kim Strassel pointed out, since the SPLC is a far-left activist group, the matter comes down to this. If the SPLC doesn't agree with your views, it tags you as a hater.
If both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal criticize your actions, it's likely you've done something very wrong. SPLC is little more than a fundraising outfit that publishes its annual hate list targeting its political enemies. Those are namely conservatives and Christians in this country. The SPLC considers belief in traditional marriage and support for the civil rights of Muslims to be hatred on par with the beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan. In 2012, after a gunman opened fire at the Family Research Council, he admitted that he was inspired to do so because the SPLC had listed it as a hate group. The SPLC has also labeled well-regarded social scientist Charles Murray as a white nationalist, a classification for which he has been physically attacked.
SPLC recently placed me on its hate radar simply because I did a public policy radio interview on a Christian network. My Christian faith doesn't teach me to hate anyone. My mother didn't raise me to hate anyone. I'm not raising my daughter to hate anyone. That the SPLC wants people to think otherwise about me and so many others is insulting and appalling. SPLC is sitting on more than $477 million, and it's a small nonprofit. Why did it get money from JPMorgan shareholders? They're using JPMorgan funds in ways that foment anti-religious bigotry and violence towards individuals. I represent a free market group. We've never once called for a boycott or tried to direct the company's philanthropy. We just want to make sure the company is fully informed about what the SPLC is doing with your money.
Can you explain to us investors, Mr. Dimon, why JPMorgan is funding anti-religious bigotry and the provocation of violence? What do you have to say to the numerous conservative and religious leaders who have been ascribed such hateful labels by SPLC?
We appreciate your comments, obviously the goal of our philanthropy is the opposite of what you've laid out, we certainly will take them into consideration as we continue to invest in communities, places where we work and where we live. We'll seek to achieve the goals that I think we all share when we make those choices. Question on the left.
My name is Patrick McCully. I'm from Rainforest Action Network. I'm a shareholder. JPMorgan Chase is the number one U.S. funder of extreme fossil fuels. Last year, it was the number two funder in the world of extreme fossil fuels among banks. Its funding for extreme fossil fuels was three times higher than the next three U.S. banks combined. It is the worst U.S. bank in terms of funding tar sands, funding coal power, funding Arctic oil. 2017 lending for coal mining from JPMorgan Chase went up 21 times. This is despite a policy in place from JPMorgan Chase saying that they must reduce their exposure to coal mining over time. Funding for tar sands last year from JPMorgan Chase went up four times. Anyone who has looked at any of the science on climate change knows that we are running out of time. We need to take action now.
We are fast running out of our carbon budget. We are running out of time to stay under the Paris Agreement limits of two degrees. We know that once we pass that two degrees threshold, the impacts of climate change are going to get even more catastrophic, to the point where it will pose existential dangers to human society and to much of the life on this planet. The climate cannot afford any new fossil fuel infrastructure. JPMorgan Chase needs to follow the lead of its European peers, such as HSBC and BNP Paribas. Start to phase out its funding for fossil fuels, starting with the worst fossil fuels like tar sands and coal and Arctic oil. There seems to be two major impediments to action from JPMorgan Chase, two reasons why JPMorgan Chase is so much worse than its peers.
One of them is that you, Mr. Dimon, just seem to be pretty unaware of this issue when it comes to your annual shareholder report, remarks to shareholders. There's lots of concern for various issues in society that I think we would all share concern over, but as for climate change, zero. We looked through the last 10 shareholders letters that you wrote, one mention of climate change in 10 years. We think this is a big problem, and we think it is your responsibility as CEO of this major financial institution, and as a major public figure in this society to be educated, to get yourself educated on climate change. Second major problem we see is the longest serving board member of JPMorgan Chase, Lee Raymond. Mr. Raymond is probably the most notorious climate denier in the world.
In his long-term role as CEO of ExxonMobil, he put tens of millions of dollars into climate denying groups and think tanks. These were very largely responsible for the lack of action on climate change in the U.S., especially through the 1990s, a time when had we taken action, had Mr. Raymond not been funding groups that were stressing the uncertainties about climate change and fighting against any action, things could have been done. We could be on a path now to solving this problem. Instead, we're on a path to destruction. I would urge you first, Mr. Dimon, please educate yourself on this issue. Two, I think it's time to replace Mr. Raymond with someone who understands the new energy economy and is representing the energy economy of the 21st century and not the 20th. Thank you.
I'd just like to comment that we are concerned about it. Maybe I didn't mention that in my shareholders letter and I'll think about that next year. You should know that we supported staying in the Paris Climate Accord. We were quite public about it. We were public about it with the administration, and with our shareholders. I think we made an announcement about it. Anything we do to finance the energy industry is done very responsibly. We do still need to have energy to power your ability to get here, heat, air conditioning, hospitals, et cetera. We go through extensive rules on each one we do, how we do it, and to maintain the right laws, rules, regulations in both your country as standards we think are appropriate.
Question on the right.
It's Barry Croster again. I've got two things. I see you have a lot of people behind me, so I'll ask you two quick questions. Number one, Plano's a very expensive place to live. I'd ask that you did a wonderful presentation on corporate responsibility in the North Dallas area or in the DFW area. I'd ask that you give some consideration for affordable housing or moderate housing programs so that you have the employees that live and work in this building, the lower entry level employees will have some place to live because you cannot get an apartment living on $15 an hour. Your tellers can't, good job.
All your workforce is going to be driving in here, and I would just like to have you entertain looking at trying to come up with some sort of projects within your control to allow you to at least try and alleviate a little bit. That's just a request.
We'll look into that. Yeah.
Second one had to do with, again, the succession planning. I've been in banking for most of my life, and I've seen banking most of my life. Chase is relatively insular. You're basically contained within your cells, and other than yourself, Mr. Dimon, I don't see that your other people are out exercising opportunities of leadership. I would hope that you would consider your two prime succession candidates, getting them more involved in leadership and participating in things. I'll just give you one real quick example, and then I'll shut up. Fortunately, you had Gordon Smith in a right place back about four or five years ago. I called him and asked that Chase not get involved in payday lending to your customers, as Wells Fargo had done, and that whole payday lending fiasco went on.
He said, "Yes, that's a good idea." I said, "How about taking a leadership position like the ABA or the Consumer Bankers Association?" "Well, we're not so sure we want to go that far." The same thing happened at Citibank. I got Tandon to agree not to it, but didn't want to. My point is, you guys are number one. You're in a position to exercise leadership and influence, and I think that it'd be a great opportunity in your development of your staff to help them and allow them to be out and more involved in trying to exercise leadership and bringing the banking industry back to the respect it deserves. Thank you.
I appreciate that. I do think the whole operating committee extensively speaks to shareholders. People who represent shareholders. They're on TV all the time. They're in Washington all the time. They're in capitals around the world all the time. They probably get less press than you think for a lot of different reasons. We do get involved in all public policy issues actively.
Thank you. On the left.
She doesn't speak much English, so I'm going to help translate.
That's fine.
Hello, my name is Linda Dominguez, and I'm just going to cheat here. I am a member of Make the Road New York, and I am a transgender woman. I am here because I suffer for my
My trans friends who are suffering from deportation and a lot of abuse inside detention centers and private prisons.
[Foreign language] Las personas transgénero comprenden una de 500 personas en detención migratoria, pero una de cada cinco de las sobrevivientes de abuso sexual en el sistema de ICE son personas transgénero.
Transgender people make up about one of every 500 people in immigration detention, the survivors of one in every five cases of sexual abuse in the ICE system are transgender people.
[Foreign language] Soy víctima de discriminación de parte de la policía, igual que mis compañeras.
I am a victim of discrimination by the police, just like my friends.
[Foreign language] Entiendo que siempre Chase está diciendo que está por el lado de los inmigrantes y la comunidad LGBTQ, mientras que al mismo tiempo financia la opresión de mi comunidad.
I know that Chase is always saying that it is on the side of immigrants and on the side of the LGBTQ community, but at the same time, it's financing the oppression of my community.
[Foreign language] No debe de marchar en el desfile del Orgullo si sigue apoyando a todas estas empresas.
You shouldn't be marching in the Pride parade if you continue to support these companies.
[Foreign language] Jamie Dimon, mi pregunta es: ¿cómo puedes afirmar que apoyas a los inmigrantes y la comunidad LGBTQ mientras financias y ganas dinero de la industria de prisión privada y detención?
Jamie Dimon, my question is: how can you say that you support immigrants and the LGBTQ community while you continue to finance and earn money from the private prison and detention industry?
I just want to reiterate our strong support for LGBT community, our publicly strong support for immigration in the United States. I'm the grandson of Greek immigrants. Obviously, we would never in any way, shape, or form condone the treatment of any prisoner anywhere. We have extensively looked into these prisons. We'll do so again, and if we think they're acting inappropriately, wouldn't be doing that.
Thank you.
I'll be translating again.
Mi nombre es Bartolo Ushigua. Yo vengo de la Amazonía. Soy una cultura Sápara. Soy una cultura en peligro de desaparición.
My name is Bartolo Ushigua. I come from the Amazon, from the Sápara people. Our people are at risk of extinction.
[Foreign language] Nosotros en la selva somos guardianes que cuidamos a la selva para que no siga afectando el cambio climático.
In the rainforest, we protect, we take care of, we're the guardians of the forest, so that climate change doesn't keep affecting us and the forest.
[Foreign language] Pero tenemos un problema. Hay grandes empresas petroleras, empresas chinas, que quieren explotar petróleo en nuestro territorio. Para nosotros, eso representa que va a terminar con nosotros y con nuestra forma de ver el mundo.
We're facing a major problem. There are large oil companies, in particular Chinese oil companies, that want to drill for oil in our territory. What this means for us is that it will be the end of us and the end of our way of seeing the world.
[Foreign language] Por eso estoy aquí en este espacio. Yo quiero hacer una pregunta. La pregunta es: nosotros de aquí a 50 años, ¿qué futuro la empresa va a dejar si sigue explotando los recursos naturales no renovables para nuestros niños, para vuestros hijos? Garantizar que la naturaleza o la Tierra siga teniendo vida.
That's why I'm here. I want to ask a question. In 50 years, what kind of future are we going to have? If your company keeps investing in these kinds of investments in oil companies like the one in our territory that want to continue to exploit non-renewable natural resources, what kind of future will our children have? What kind of future will your children have? What kind of guarantees will we have for the ability to survive on this planet?
Y con estas palabras, les quiero agradecer. Muchas gracias.
With that, I want to thank you for listening.
We share your concerns. We participate in trying to promote policy which governments can follow, which would create proper incentives to reduce CO₂ in the air. I'm unaware of the specific drilling you're talking about in the Amazon. We will look into that.
Thank you. On the left.
Miss, would you like to go ahead or would you like somebody else to? Oh, translator. I didn't realize I was supposed to translate. Thank you. Okay. I think the other person who's going to translate couldn't get in.
Buenos días a todos, damas y caballeros. Hi, Mr. Dimon.
Hello.
Estoy muy triste e indignada porque necesito decir estas palabras. En otra reunión de accionistas del año pasado. Hello, Mr. Dimon. I am indignant and sad because I have to make reference to some words you spoke in a different shareholder meeting last year. No sé si me recuerda. Mi nombre es María Rubio y soy miembro de Made to Grow. Me dijo exactamente hace un año que no se daba cuenta de que JPMorgan estaba invirtiendo en la industria de prisiones privadas y de los centros de detención y que lo investigaría. I don't know if you remember, but you told me exactly a year ago, that you didn't realize that JPMorgan was investing in the private prison industry, in the detention industry, and that you would look into it. [Foreign language] Estoy aquí hoy porque esas palabras estaban vacías.
[Foreign language] Desde Trump, sus tenencias de acciones en la industria se han incrementado en un 97, no por ciento, 97 veces más, que lo que significa que hace como 10,000, y eso afecta a mi comunidad porque mi comunidad sigue sufriendo. Those were empty words. Since Trump, the tendencies of your investments in this industry have increased by 97 times, and my community continues to suffer. [Foreign language] Señor Dimon, tengo dos preguntas hoy. [Foreign language] ¿Qué ha hecho para cumplir el compromiso conmigo de que investigaría la participación de JPMorgan Chase? Una. [Foreign language] Dos, ¿cómo podría estar aplicando esto en su marco de gestión de riesgos ambientales y sociales y seguir beneficiándose con el dolor y el sufrimiento de nuestra comunidad? ¿Puede contestarme, por favor? Mr. Dimon, I have two questions for you.
What have you done to fulfill the promise that you made with me that you would look into these investments of JPMorgan Chase? How can you apply this into your environmental and social risk framework and
Welcome to JPMorgan Chase's 2018 annual shareholder meeting.
After the tone, please clearly state and spell your first and last name and your company name, press the pound key.
You seem like a bright young man. I'd love you to come in one day and go through the actual facts about what we do in New York City and around the country to help people of color, minority areas, low and middle income housing. We started a whole new project recently in the South Bronx about skills initiatives. We started the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund. We have a program which helps minorities get venture capital to start small businesses, and we just started it up in the South Bronx precisely for the reason you said. We have extensive rules in place to avoid making errors and mistakes, and I think you'd actually be proud and impressed with the initiatives we're making to do the right thing. We have products specifically built that people can opt-out of overdraft fees. The Chase Liquid is specifically meant for that community.
That you can only spend what's on the card, et cetera. If you have other ideas, I'd love to hear them.
If I may, Mr. Dimon. If you go into neighborhoods like the South Bronx and-
I was there.
Invest this money.
I was there three times recently.
That's great. When you go into these communities and you're investing the way that you do, giving 60% of your loans to White residents, it doesn't matter if you go into a neighborhood of color, you're pushing people of color out. You're not giving them opportunity. You're actually taking it away.
We're here to-
We'll let you come in.
I'd love you to come in.
Because there's only one set of facts, and happy to have you take a look at them. On the right.
Good morning. My name is Paul Corbett Brown. I'm coming to you from Keepers of the Mountains Foundation in West Virginia. I want to speak to you briefly about a concern I have with JPMorgan Chase. Now we all know that any investment is a gamble, and every company or individual has the right to gamble their own resources in the hopes of making a profit. However, no company, no individual, has the right to gamble that which does not belong to them. Your money is far from the only asset that is at risk due to your investments in fossil fuels. Also on the table are the health of those living in the communities affected by the industries you support and profit from.
The damage and devastation of the resources that we all rely on, such as clean water and clean air. Lastly, climate change. We're long past the time for taking climate change seriously. There is no debate among those who are thinking clearly and honestly. Dear members of the board, Mr. Dimon, shareholders of JPMorgan Chase, you are gambling with that which does not belong to you. We, the people, the communities you are profiting from, are suffering and literally dying as a result of your gamble. The truth is that our rapacious appetite for wealth through the consumption of fossil fuels is destroying the life support system for human beings. The truth is that we must realign our investment priorities in favor of a renewable and sustainable and equitable energy economy. The truth is that the laws of nature will always supplant the laws of humans.
So that you, dear board and shareholders, are clear that I'm not speaking in hyperbole, I submit these more than 20 peer-reviewed health studies and ask that they be entered into the official record of this meeting. You have the right and responsibility to know the harm of your investments. We all know the truth. Now we're left with one of two choices. We will rise to meet the truth, or we will succumb to it. Thank you.
Thank you.
On the left.
My name is Andy Morrison, and I'm with New Economy Project. As you heard, we're a New York City-based organizational shareholder in JPMorgan Chase. You heard from my colleague a moment ago, Julian Robinson, who laid out concretely and factually three ways in which Chase harms New Yorkers and New York City neighborhoods through redlining and wealth extraction. That's not all. Chase fails to reinvest adequately in its hometown of New York City. According to the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development, among the four biggest banks, Chase has the worst record of reinvestment relative to deposits. Chase also finances New York City's worst landlords, driving gentrification and displacement in New York City neighborhoods.
In 2017, according to a city official, Chase was a top lender to New York City's worst landlords which routinely and systematically violate tenants' rights, housing laws, and building codes, using poor health and safety conditions to displace low-income tenants. As you've heard today from other groups about how Chase is fueling climate disaster and endangering New York City's frontline communities, financing dangerous pipelines that violate indigenous rights, also has financed a company that has proposed a pipeline to carry fracked gas through the Rockaways, a New York City neighborhood, and Chase's actions to bankroll private prisons and immigrant detention centers, which have detained immigrant New Yorkers under Trump's shameful immigration policies and subjected them to inhumane conditions. The list goes on and on, and it all amounts to a clear message. Chase to New York City, drop dead.
We'd like to ask you again, what does Chase plan to do to provide reparations to the communities of color in New York City neighborhoods it has systematically exploited? You mentioned earlier in your comments that we must respect each other to make the world a better place. I hope that you'll respect New York City and appreciate our comments and provide an answer to that question.
Again, I think you're highly misinformed, and I think you all should come in, and we'll sit down and talk about very specifics about what we're trying to do and what you think we know. If you have landlords you think are doing terrible stuff, we'll be happy to hear about name by name, because I'm unaware of what you're talking about, but I think mostly you're uninformed.
Well, everything we laid out today is factual.
I'm sorry.
I'd like a response to those questions.
Well, we're happy to meet with you and talk in private. We look forward to that meeting. Molly Carpenter will follow up with you afterwards to set up a time. On the right.
Hi, good morning. My name is Jessica Lorena Rangel. I am undocumented law student from Rice University. I come here on behalf of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Houston, Texas. My question is as follows. I think I will be probably the last person that will be speaking about private prisons. Obviously, Chase has been the largest contributing bank to donate over $132.5 million to a company like CoreCivic and also about $900 million to The GEO Group. Obviously, JPMorgan, without a doubt, has quietly been financing the immigration detention centers that have detained an average of over 26,000 people per day through the year up to July 2017. Harris County in Houston, Texas, has officially became the capital of deportation in the U.S. with Senate Bill 4 currently in effect in Houston, in Texas as a whole.
My question is, Mr. Dimon, when will JPMorgan start being more proactive about these issues instead of just being reactive?
I think we've been quite proactive. We're pro-immigrant, pro-DACA, pro-giving law-abiding citizens the path to legal status and/or citizenship. We've been public about it. I've written about it. We lobby in Washington about it. We spoke to the administration about it.
Perfect. I would love to be able to sit down with you, though, be possibly in the near future.
We'll set up a time. Thank you. On the left.
Thank you. Eric Cohen with two follow-up questions about investments tied to genocide. First, I was very pleased to hear Mr. Dimon say that he would look into the issue that was raised earlier about Chinese oil companies and the risk they pose that they're drilling in Amazon. I didn't reference that company, it's Sinopec, but JPMorgan is a very large holder in Sinopec, in addition to the one that I used as my example, PetroChina. Only by looking into these things can you have the knowledge to then be able to decide what you can do about it. Once you have the knowledge, you also have some responsibility. I'm very pleased that you said you would follow up on that.
In that vein, and here's my first question, I was at the shareholder meeting, the annual shareholder meeting a few years ago, and at the time, Mr. Dimon and Director Raymond said they knew nothing about PetroChina. I ask you today, do you and the board now understand the role that CNPC PetroChina plays in substantially contributing to genocide? If so, what do you plan to do about it?
We'll look into what you say. I just want to point out for the audience to get it clear, JPMorgan Chase does not own Sinopec or CNOOC. It's owned in a fiduciary, which I can't tell them what to do, but I sort of let you meet with them and tell them exactly what you're concerned about that specific company and their specific countries, and we'll review it from there.
That leads to my second question, because the statement of opposition to the proposal on
We also would never in any way condone any form of genocide.
My second question tied to that is related to what you just said. The statement of opposition said that JPMorgan owns shares, but you are not the beneficial owner of shares, and that limits what you can do. However, your filing with the Hong Kong Exchange on April 27th of this year said that JPMorgan Chase was the beneficial owner of 365 million shares of PetroChina. If we put all other things aside, what can you do about those shares that you own?
I do not think it is true.
I'll leave you a copy of the filing-
If you do, yeah.
Thank you.
-from JPMorgan to the Hong Kong authorities.
Hi, this time I'll speak for myself. My name is Moira Birss, and I work with an organization called Amazon Watch, the Amazon rainforest, not Amazon the company. I just wanted to be able to compliment something that Bartolo said. We've done some research into the investments of JPMorgan in companies that are drilling or are exploring for drilling projects in the Amazon, that include Andes Petroleum, Frontera, and GeoPark. To give you some direction about where to look, my question is both would you be willing to meet with us and ideally also including community leaders like Bartolo from the Amazon about the effects that these investments are having in their communities, and also what your plans are for not just looking into them, but actually to addressing some of the concerns of these communities. Thank you.
Definitely. If you'll see Molly Carpenter afterwards, we'll set up a meeting to discuss that. Last question.
My question is inspired actually by a number of the comments surveyed here. You're absolutely right, Mr. Dimon. The bank obviously has clients that it can influence on clients' lending and a relationship there. You also have a tremendous fiduciary opportunity because you run $23 trillion in fiduciary, as I recall. The proxy voting guidelines that are applicable in your fiduciary capacity, do you have any board oversight as to the construction of those proxy voting guidelines and the process for organizations that seem to be coming here to at least approach and make a presentation to try and persuade the authors of those proxy voting guidelines to maybe get consideration?
That is a big topic.
Yeah.
There is a group that's set up, they're a fiduciary, they're set up to do exactly that. I'm sure probably you've met with some of the people in this room, if you don't know how to get to them, you can get to Stacey or me and we'll hook you up with the right people. You have the right to be heard by those investors, too.
Great. Thank you. That concludes our discussion period. Please submit any remaining ballots to our team. If you have a ballot, just hold it up, we'll collect it and include it in the final tabulation. I declare the poll closed as of 11:14 A.M. We've concluded the formal portion of our meeting. I'll now read the preliminary vote results that were received immediately prior to the start of the meeting. We will publish the final vote results on an 8-K that will be filed with the SEC, as well as with the minutes of the meetings. With respect to the election of all directors, all directors were elected and each director received the majority of the votes cast for and against. No director received less than 88.9% of the vote.
With respect to the other proposals, the results I read will be the percentage voted for based on shares marked for, against, and abstained. On proposal number 2, the vote for approval of the ratification of the special meeting provisions of the firm's bylaws was 58%. On proposal 3, the vote for approval of the advisory resolution to approve exec comp was 93%. On proposal 4, the vote for approval of the amended and restated long-term incentive plan effective May 15th, 2018 was 95%. On proposal 5, the vote for ratification of our independent registered public accounting firm was 97%. On proposal 6, the vote for approval of the independent board chairman was 33%. On number 7, the vote for proposal regarding vesting of government service was 29%. On number 8, the vote for proposal regarding the report on investments tied to genocide was 8%.
On number 9, the vote for the proposal regarding cumulative voting was 9%. Jamie, do you want to say any last words?
Yes. On behalf of all of the board of directors and myself, we greatly appreciate the views of all of our shareholders and how thoughtful you are in engaging us. We will be following up with some of the issues you raised. The entire board takes their feedback very seriously and will continue to incorporate their input into how we govern the company. We're going to continue to build towards being the best class in every single way. We really appreciate it. Thanks for coming. Thanks to all the folks from JPMorgan Chase for all the great things you do for your communities around the world, and we'll see some of you next year. Thanks.
Will you just note that the meeting's adjourned?
Yes. The meeting's adjourned.
Okay.