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JP Morgan Chase and Company Chief Executive Officer Jamie <strong>Dimon</strong> (2nd Left) waits to testify before the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on "A Breakdown in Risk Management: What Went Wrong at JPMorgan Chase?" on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 13, 2012.LARRY DOWNING/Reuters

Are the shareholders of JPMorgan Chase & Co. preparing to humiliate Jamie Dimon in public?

That now appears to be a distinct possibility for the man long hailed as the smartest chief executive on Wall Street. Over the past year, however, his star has dimmed as the bank lost billions on a trading blunder and became embroiled in numerous probes by regulators.

Some investors believe those missteps require a change in corporate governance – and they're pushing a proposal that would seek to strip Mr. Dimon of his role as chairman of the board, while continuing as CEO.

The move to split Mr. Dimon's dual roles got a big boost in recent days when the country's two most influential advisory firms urged shareholders to support the proposal ahead of JPMorgan's annual meeting on May 21.

On Tuesday, Glass, Lewis & Co., which advises investors how to vote in proxy matters, released a report detailing its position. Recent internal and external investigations "have revealed questionable risk-management practices at both the senior management and board level" of the bank, the firm wrote, according to Bloomberg News.

Last Friday, Institutional Shareholder Services, another major advisory firm, also threw its weight behind the proposal.

Several major shareholders – including BlackRock Inc. and Vanguard Group Inc. – are still on the fence, according to The Wall Street Journal. JPMorgan, meanwhile, is lobbying shareholders to oppose the move.

In some ways, it's tempting to see the vote as a tempest in a teacup -- to reprise a phrase made famous by Mr. Dimon when he first dismissed what would balloon into the London Whale trading scandal, costing the bank $6-billion (U.S.).

The proposal is non-binding, so even if it receives a majority of the votes, the bank is under no legal obligation to comply with it. But on the level of moral suasion, it would be powerful indeed – and a rebuke that the bank would be foolish to ignore.

Mr. Dimon himself has acknowledged as much. Last month, when the bank released a stellar quarterly earnings report, he declined to go into specifics about what would happen if the proposal succeeded. He did say, however, that "you should always listen to your shareholders."

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SymbolName% changeLast
JPM-N
JP Morgan Chase & Company
+0.39%200.3
M-N
Macy's Inc
+0.71%19.99
PM-N
Philip Morris International Inc
-0.66%91.62

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