Shareholder Vote Boosts Campaign by Investors Against Genocide

COLUMBUS, OH  (May 17, 2011) – The shareholder proposal on “Genocide-free investing” earned 7.69 percent of the vote at today’s JPMorgan Chase shareholder meeting. The favorable vote is more than double the 3% required for the proposal to be presented at next year’s meeting and is a solid result given that 74 percent of outstanding shares are held by institutional investors which typically reject social proposals.

William Rosenfeld, co-founder and Director of Strategic Initiatives for Investors Against Genocide (IAG), presented the proposal at the shareholder meeting, held this year in Columbus, Ohio.

“Eight years after the genocide in Darfur, it is time for JPMorgan Chase to implement a policy to avoid investments with ties to genocide,” said Rosenfeld.  “We hope today’s vote causes JPMorgan Chase to reconsider its opposition to adopting a policy of avoiding investments tied to genocide.  If not, we will bring genocide-free investing forward for consideration at next year’s annual meeting, knowing that, overwhelmingly, Americans, once they become aware, do not want their pensions and family savings connected to genocide.”

The text of Proposal 10 on the JPMorgan Chase proxy ballot stated, “Shareholders request that the Board institute transparent procedures to prevent holding investments in companies that, in management’s judgment, substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity, the most egregious violations of human rights. Management should encourage JPMorgan funds with separate boards to institute similar procedures.”

In his presentation, Rosenfeld challenged JPMorgan Chase to live up to the company’s stated ideals, and quoted Chairman Jamie Dimon’s public statement that JPMorgan Chase has “always been deeply committed to being good corporate citizens.” Said Rosenfeld, “Ethical investing may mean different things to different people, but surely avoiding investments tied to genocide is a minimum standard we can all approve. If thirty states, sixty colleges, TIAA-CREF, and American Funds can avoid PetroChina, why can’t JPMorgan Chase?”

Rosenfeld continued, “JPMorgan Chase plays a large role in guiding the investment choices of its customers. Without a genocide-free investing policy, ordinary individuals, through their investments with JPMorgan, inadvertently invest in companies such as PetroChina that help to fund genocide.”

The full text of Rosenfeld’s presentation at the JPMorgan Chase shareholder meeting can be found here.

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is one of the JPMorgan Chase shareholders that voted in favor of IAG’s genocide-free investing proposal.  Tim Brennan, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer for the UUA, said, “The Unitarian Universalist Association’s principles call us to stand for human rights.  This was a major factor in our decision last year to move our retirement plan from Fidelity to TIAA-CREF.  I am confident that JPMorgan Chase managers can choose genocide-free investments while honoring their fiduciary responsibility to clients.”

In the weeks leading up to the May 17 vote, IAG launched an ad campaign to raise awareness about the genocide-free investing resolution.  The campaign featured an online petition, a dramatic full-page advertisement  in The Wall Street Journal, and Facebook ads asking JPMorgan Chase credit card and banking customers, whether there was “Genocide in your wallet?”

IAG’s genocide-free investing proposal was submitted to JPMorgan Chase as part of an ongoing shareholder action led by IAG to convince mutual funds and other investment firms to make an ongoing commitment to genocide-free investing.   The JPMorgan Chase resolution is the first one IAG has submitted to a corporation, rather than to individual mutual funds.  “It is particularly important for JPMorgan Chase to embrace genocide-free investing, given its high public profile, the millions of consumers in its retail banking and credit card businesses, and its very large holdings in PetroChina,” said Rosenfeld.

Proposal 10 was opposed by JPMorgan Chase from the start.  JPMorgan Chase asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow the company to exclude the genocide-free investing proposal from the proxy ballot.  In April the SEC denied their request, clearing the way for the shareholder proposal to appear on the May 17 proxy ballot.

Similar proposals coordinated by IAG and submitted in previous years to a variety of mutual fund companies have earned as much as 31 percent of the votes despite strong opposition from management and voting rules that significantly favor management.

Financial institutions have begun to support IAG’s initiative to avoid investments tied to genocide.  IAG withdrew its shareholder proposal at TIAA-CREF when the firm adopted a public policy against investments connected to genocide.  TIAA-CREF subsequently divested holdings in oil companies that are helping to support the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Likewise, American Funds divested its holdings in PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) following a well-publicized shareholder vote on genocide-free investing.

The shareholder proposal cited a market research study conducted by KRC Research in 2010 indicating that 88 percent of Americans would like their mutual funds to be genocide-free. The study showed that for those earning $50,000 or more, that percentage climbs to 95 percent.

The shareholder proposal stated that the problem of investments tied to genocide “is particularly important” to JP Morgan shareholders because JPMorgan “has been a large holder of PetroChina for years” and noted that a recent filing by JPMorgan showed holdings of 1,070,760,070 H-shares, worth $1.3 billion. The proposal further stated, “PetroChina, through its closely related parent, China National Petroleum Company, is internationally recognized as the worst offender helping fund the Government of Sudan’s genocide in Darfur.”

####

Investors Against Genocide is a citizen-led initiative, dedicated to convincing mutual funds and other investment firms to make an ongoing commitment to genocide-free investing.  . Investors Against Genocide works with individuals, organizations, financial institutions, the press, and government agencies to build awareness and create financial, public relations, and regulatory pressure for investment firms to change their investing strategy to avoid investments in companies which substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity. Investors Against Genocide is staffed by volunteers and is a project of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization, incorporated in the state of Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.InvestorsAgainstGenocide.org.