
JPMorgan Chase Bank
Corprate Bias Ratings
Risk Level:
Summary:
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.
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.
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).
Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.
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).
Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.
JPMorgan Chase does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1).
Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.
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).
Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.
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).
All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
September 26, 2023
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Voting History
Date | ESG Category | Proponent | Summary of Resolution | Mgmt Rec | Total Vote % in Favor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5/16/23 | Governance | John Chevedden | Special shareholder meeting improvement | Against | 34.90% |
5/16/23 | Environmental | As You Sow | Report on Climate Transistion Planning | Against | 34.80% |
5/16/23 | Governance | Kenneth Steiner | Idependent Board Chairman | Against | 34.50% |
5/16/23 | Social | James McRitchie | Report on Congruence of Political and Electioneering Expenditures | Against | 31.60% |
5/16/23 | Environmental | The Comptroller of the City of New York | Absolute GHG reduction goals | Against | 12.40% |
5/16/23 | Environmental | Sierra Club Foundation | Fossil Fuel Phase Out | Against | 8.10% |
5/16/23 | Environmental | Harrington Investments | Mandate to Oversee Animal Welfare Impact and Risk | Against | 3.40% |
5/16/23 | Social | David Bahnsen | Report on Ensuring Respect for Civil Liberties | Against | 2.30% |
5/17/22 | Governance | John Chevedden | Special Meetings - Reduce Ownership Req. to 10% | Against | 46.52% |
5/17/22 | Governance | Kenneth Steiner | Require Independent Board Chair | Against | 39.61% |
5/17/22 | Environmental | Sierra Club Foundation | Report on Setting Absolute Contraction Targets for GhG Emissions in Line with Net-zero Commintments | Against | 15.30% |
5/17/22 | Environmental | Mercy Investment Services | Adopt Fossil Fuel Financing Policy Consistant with IEA's Net-zero 2050 Scenario | Against | 9.97% |
5/17/22 | Governance | National Legal and Policy Center | Disclose Director Skills and Qualifications Including Ideological Perspectives | Against | 4.09% |
5/17/22 | Governance | National Center for Public Policy Research | Amend Certificate of Incorporation to Become a Public Benefit Corporation | Against | 0.74% |