JPMorgan Chase Bank

WePay
New York
Banks, Diversified Financials

Corprate Bias Ratings

Risk Level:

Rating - Danger
High Risk

JPMorgan Chase has terminated business with conservative customers and reserves the right to terminate business with partners who violate the company's vague Code of Conduct. JPMorgan Chase has canceled multiple legal industries and high-profile accounts, including Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (USA). JPMorgan Chase vets vendors according to LGBTQ policies and does not provide its employees with protections against viewpoint discrimination. The company covers the cost of "medically necessary transition-related care" for its employees and their children and has discriminatory policies that exclude religious nonprofits from charitable giving. JPMorgan Chase is a platinum partner of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a titanium sponsor of Out & Equal, a founding corporate partner of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and supports the Equality Act. It is part of Glasgow's Net Zero Alliance and is a signatory of Climate Action 100+, committed to carbon neutrality by 2040. JPMorgan is a signatory of the Business Roundtable's 2019 Statement on the Purpose of Corporation, which promotes stakeholder capitalism. The bank's political contributions have gone to ideological PAC funds. For these reasons, JPMorgan Chase receives a High Risk rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

JPMorgan Chase quit doing business with private detention companies in response to leftist pressure groups who disagreed with the Trump administration’s immigration policy (1). There are allegations from well-known conservative activists that their accounts were terminated with no warning or stated reason (2)(3). CEO Jamie Dimon has stated that the bank would not do business with manufacturers of “military-style” weapons for civilian consumers, and the bank has stated that its business relations with firearms manufacturers “have come down significantly and are pretty limited” (4)(5). U.S. Senators have expressed concern about this discrimination, and state laws have even prohibited the bank from bidding on government bonds, debt, or financing, but the bank has held firm in its stance (6)(7). JPMorgan Chase’s Code of Conduct uses subjective language that prohibits suppliers and even customers from engaging in “discrimination, harassment, or inappropriate or abusive conduct” (8). The bank no longer lends to coal mining projects and limits funding to Arctic drilling projects (9). WePay, a payment processor owned by JPMorgan, terminated an account of a conservative political group that was set to host an event with Donald Trump, Jr., in 2021 (10). Chase Bank also terminated the account of Lt. Gen. Flynn, former White House National Security Advisor, due to “reputational risk” in 2021, though the bank later retracted the cancellation as a “mistake” (11). In October 2022, JPMorgan Chase canceled its banking relationship with the National Committee for Religious Freedom (NCRF), a nonpartisan, multi-faith nonprofit (12)(13)(14). In response to this action, NCRF started an online media campaign with the name #ChasedAway and a corresponding website to track other examples of this type of cancellation. JPMorgan Chase canceled Mercola Market’s company bank accounts and its employee’s personal accounts. According to CEO Steven Rye, this was because of Dr. Mercola’s controversial views on the origins of COVID-19 and the trustworthiness of the vaccine, which he published in a national bestseller. JPMorgan Chase denies this rationale but says one cannot be disclosed “for legal reasons” (15)(16). The company received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Among other requirements, this means JPMorgan Chase has pledged to vet vendors based on LGBTQ policies (17)(18).

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

JPMorgan Chase will not match employee contributions to organizations that promote religious belief or practice, including churches (1). It has a ban on matching contributions to groups with an “adversarial and confrontational” approach to issues, but this does not extend to ideological groups like the HRC or the American Civil Liberties Union (2).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

JPMorgan Chase does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

JPMorgan Chase is a member of the Business Coalition for the Equality Act (1). Its CEO, Jamie Dimon, kneeled during the “National Anthem” to show support for racial justice (2). After initially weighing in against the Georgia election integrity law with a general statement about voting rights, CEO Jamie Dimon refused to sign an open letter of business leaders inspired by the Georgia law, saying that he does not have a need to weigh in on state-specific matters of legislation (3)(4). Dimon is a member of the Business Roundtable and signed its 2019 Statement on the Purpose of Corporation, which promotes stakeholder capitalism over traditional obligations to shareholders and customers (5)(6). JPMorgan Chase has signed the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion pledge (7). JPMorgan Asset Management is part of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative and JPMorgan Chase is part of the Net Zero Banking Alliance and is a Ceres Network Member, committed to carbon neutrality by 2040 (8)(9)(10)(11). JPMorgan Chase is a signatory of Climate Action 100+ (12).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

JPMorgan Chase gave $500,000 to the Southern Poverty Law Center and other BLM-adjacent organizations, totaling $30 billion in racial justice investments (1)(2)(3). JPMorgan has also donated to Planned Parenthood (3). After the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the company has also pledged to cover its employees’ abortion-related travel costs (4). The JPMorgan Chase Foundation has provided funding to various local chapters of the ACLU (5). JPMorgan Chase is a platinum partner of the HRC, a titanium sponsor of Out and Equal, and a founding corporate partner of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (6)(7)(8). JPMorgan Chase has a perfect score on the HRC’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index. This score indicates the company covers the cost of “medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children (9)(10).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
Rationale

JPMorgan Chase’s PAC donated to the Equality PAC (1)(2).

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
September 26, 2023

Company reports are intended for educational use only. Full Disclaimer

Voting History

Date
ESG Category
Proponent
Summary of ResolutionMgmt RecTotal Vote % in Favor
5/16/23GovernanceJohn CheveddenSpecial shareholder meeting improvementAgainst34.90%
5/16/23EnvironmentalAs You SowReport on Climate Transistion PlanningAgainst34.80%
5/16/23GovernanceKenneth SteinerIdependent Board ChairmanAgainst34.50%
5/16/23SocialJames McRitchieReport on Congruence of Political and Electioneering ExpendituresAgainst31.60%
5/16/23EnvironmentalThe Comptroller of the City of New YorkAbsolute GHG reduction goalsAgainst12.40%
5/16/23EnvironmentalSierra Club FoundationFossil Fuel Phase OutAgainst8.10%
5/16/23EnvironmentalHarrington InvestmentsMandate to Oversee Animal Welfare Impact and RiskAgainst3.40%
5/16/23SocialDavid BahnsenReport on Ensuring Respect for Civil LibertiesAgainst2.30%
5/17/22GovernanceJohn CheveddenSpecial Meetings - Reduce Ownership Req. to 10%Against46.52%
5/17/22GovernanceKenneth SteinerRequire Independent Board ChairAgainst39.61%
5/17/22EnvironmentalSierra Club FoundationReport on Setting Absolute Contraction Targets for GhG Emissions in Line with Net-zero CommintmentsAgainst15.30%
5/17/22EnvironmentalMercy Investment ServicesAdopt Fossil Fuel Financing Policy Consistant with IEA's Net-zero 2050 ScenarioAgainst9.97%
5/17/22GovernanceNational Legal and Policy CenterDisclose Director Skills and Qualifications Including Ideological PerspectivesAgainst4.09%
5/17/22GovernanceNational Center for Public Policy ResearchAmend Certificate of Incorporation to Become a Public Benefit CorporationAgainst0.74%
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