Jamie Dimon Scrambles to Keep CEO-Chairman Role

It’s been a rough year for JPMorgan Chase’s previously unflappable Dimon: The Teflon Suit was blamed for allowing the London Whale to make trades without any reasonable efforts to rein him in. More than $6.2 billion in losses and a scathing report from a Senate subcommittee later and Dimon may not get to keep both of his powerful posts.

And even though his 2012 pay was cut in half by the JPMorgan board of directors, they may not be done with their punitive chopping.

[What's Up with CEOs these days? Corzine lit match that set MF Global afire.]

As Dealbook reports:

The campaigning, which shareholders indicate is unusually proactive this year, reflects the growing worries within JPMorgan that investors may be dissatisfied with management because of the continuing fallout from a multibillion-dollar trading debacle.

In the past, such investors say they usually received only a phone call from executives in the investor relations department or met with them in person. Along with director meetings, the company this year is also contacting smaller shareholders who previously might not have heard from the big bank at all.

At last year’s JPMC shareholder meeting, 40 percent of voters wanted Dimon's jobs split in two.

[Bonus brain? Hedge fund traders feel pressure to break rules to keep their bonuses.]

This isn’t the first time banks have reached out to shareholders to stave off embarrassing backlashes and punitive measures. As FierceFinance reports: "Goldman Sachs, for example, last year reached out to shareholders on executive compensation issues in a successful effort to make sure that it did not suffer a negative say-on-pay vote."

This would be a public humiliation and the closest thing to a form of punishment for Dimon who seemed out of touch and clueless when the scope of the London Whale’s losses came to light. And if Dimon does not want to appear out of touch, one wonders how he feels about the latest news surrounding him. Today, real estate voyeurs are mulling over the news that Dimon and his wife just paid $2.5 million for office space on the ground floor of his Park Avenue building. The 2,500-square foot space was formerly a cardiologist's office and may serve as a Dimon's home office.

Maybe his personal assistant should hold off on updating his business cards.

Phil Albinus is the former editor of Advanced Trading and he currently edits the FierceFinanceIT newsletter. Follow him on Twitter at @philalbinus.

Phil Albinus is the former editor-in-chief of Advanced Trading. He has nearly two decades of journalism experience and has been covering financial technology and regulation for nine years. Before joining Advanced Trading, he served as editor of Waters, a monthly trade journal ... View Full Bio