- JPMorgan Asset & Wealth Management will stop using ISS and Glass Lewis for U.S. shareholder voting and rely on its internal AI system, Proxy IQ.
- The change becomes fully effective April 1, 2026 after a Q1 transition, covering voting across 3,000+ annual meetings tied to about $7 trillion in client assets.
- JPMorgan frames the move as driven by regulatory scrutiny and a push to reduce proxy advisers’ influence, echoing Jamie Dimon’s long-standing criticism.
- The shift signals cost and control gains for big managers but raises questions about transparency, accountability, and job pressure in the proxy-advisory industry.
Read More
On January 7, 2026, JPMorgan Chase’s asset and wealth management arm announced in an internal memo that it would fully sever ties with external proxy advisory firms—namely ISS and Glass Lewis—for U.S. shareholder voting, replacing their input with its own AI-powered system called Proxy IQ. The firm claims this makes it the first major investment manager to eliminate external proxy advisors from its U.S. voting process.
The move covers JPMorgan managing about $7 trillion in client assets, and voting in thousands of corporate governance matters each year. Proxy IQ will handle every stage of the voting workflow—from data collection through research selection to final recommendations—for more than 3,000 annual meetings.
Underlying motivations include regulatory risk and public criticism; in December 2025, a U.S. executive order put the proxy advisory industry under heightened oversight, criticizing the sector over political bias and conflicts of interest. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has repeatedly labeled proxy advisors as exerting “undue influence” and “incompetent.”
Strategic implications are multiple: cost savings (proxy advisory services cost external advisory fees formerly paid to ISS/Glass Lewis), complexity reduction in decision-making, tightening control and visibility over governance-voting logic, and reinforcing fiduciary alignment to client interests. On the flipside, centralized internal voting entails risks: potential biases in in-house models, loss of independence or diversity of thought, legal and reputational exposure, and the need for transparency in AI-driven governance decisions. For the proxy advisory industry, this development signals a potential erosion of market share, especially among smaller asset managers who may lack JPMorgan’s scale or data advantage.
Open questions include how JPMorgan will ensure accountability for decisions formerly influenced by independent third parties; what transparency and audit mechanisms will govern Proxy IQ; how clients will respond—whether they accept AI-generated recommendations; and whether competitors will follow suit, accelerating transform in proxy advisory space. Also, the impact on the workforce currently employed by ISS and Glass Lewis—perhaps reduced demand for external roles—is a developing risk.
Supporting Notes
- JPMorgan Asset & Wealth Management will fully eliminate reliance on external proxy advisory firms for its U.S. voting process, shifting to an internal AI tool named Proxy IQ.
- The decision becomes fully effective April 1, 2026, with a transition in Q1.
- Proxy IQ will handle all parts of the proxy-voting workflow, aggregating data and issuing recommendations for more than 3,000 annual meetings.
- JPMorgan’s asset management arm oversees about $7 trillion in client assets, giving it voting power across thousands of companies.
- Regulatory pressure: a December 2025 executive order targeted proxy adviser industry for influence and political agendas; JPMorgan cited its “information advantage” and client-centric fiduciary duty in the memo.
- JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has criticized proxy advisory firms for being “incompetent” and exerting “undue influence.”
- In 2024, JPMorgan had already reduced external recommendations in its internal voting systems and research reports.