IT Blog

(Reuters) – Often rowdy and confrontational, this year’s bank shareholder meetings have so far been brief and uneventful as the annual gatherings move online amid U.S. coronavirus lockdowns.

The shift is a welcome reprieve for the senior executives who field combative questioning or disruptive protests from shareholders and activists over business decisions. In 2018, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said the demonstrations had made the meetings a “complete waste of time.”

But the change worries advocacy groups and retail investors for whom the meetings offer a rare chance to engage with bank leadership on critical corporate governance issues such as pay, diversity and sustainability.

“It’s the once-a-year opportunity to engage with directors who are overseeing management and… to do so in a public forum…