J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM) Shareholders Reject Separation of CEO/Chairman Role, Looking for Dividend

At their annual shareholders meeting, J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM)investors rejected the proposal to separate the roles of CEO and chairman, which are both held by Jamie Dimon. The largest public pension fund in the U.S., Calpers, had supported the separation.

On their Web site, Calpers, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, said this as the reasoning behind backing the proposal, “While we recognize the company currently has a presiding director, Calpers believes if the Chairman is not the CEO the board may be able to exercise stronger oversight of management.”

The largest concern from shareholders at the meeting seemed to be concerning the dividend.

CEO Jamie Dimon responded to a question from a shareholder on when the dividend will be restored to shareholders. Dimon answered, “We are working as hard as we can to restore your dividend. We’re hoping to do something like that later this year or early next year,”

Dimon added what the he and the company are looking for in that regard is a sustainable economic recovery, something that obviously hasn’t happened yet.

Considering the fallout from the EU sovereign debt crisis and inflation challenges in China, it could be some time before the dividend is again offered to J.P. Morgan shareholders. It’s uncertain at this time the extent of the damage awaiting the global economy, but it could be significant. It could be the end of the year before we start to see more clearly how they will effect J.P. Morgan and other companies.

The goal of the giant bank is to increase the dividend from 30 percent to 40 percent once there is confirmation the economy is on the road to recovery in a sustainable way. Part of the measurements to be used to determine that are an improvement in loan losses and employment of Americans.

At this time the banking firm does pay out a small quarterly dividend of 5 cents a share.