This Man May Decide Jamie Dimon's Fate

Source: Governance for Owners

Stephen Cohen

The man who may decide whether JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon's will be able to remain as both Chairman and CEO says he's not yet ready to make a decision.

Stephen Cohen is the CEO of a London-based company called Governance for Owners. He will cast the ballots for investment firm BlackRock at the May 21st JP Morgan shareholder meeting.

BlackRock controls 6.5 percent of JP Morgan stock. But because of the rules stated in the Bank Holding Company Act, BlackRock must outsource its votes to a third party.

(Read More: JPMorgan Board Unanimously Backs Dimon as Chairman)

Cohen says "we have a team of experts that will consider all of the relevant issues and we will be deciding over the next few days."

Earlier this week, BlackRock's Chairman and CEO Larry Fink was asked if he'd like to see Jamie Dimon keep the Chairman and CEO jobs at JP Morgan. He said "we believe there is a role for a combination of Chairman and CEO. I'm a Chairman and CEO. We also believe in a strong lead director who has some strong rights and responsibilities."

Despite being hired by BlackRock, Stephen Cohen of Governance for Owners does not have to go by what Larry Fink wants to do. Reacting to Fink today, Cohen said "we have a very clear contractual arrangement with BlackRock to make a decision as we see fit, that's the whole purpose of this exercise and that's why this decision is delegated to us."

(Read More: Small Firm Could Turn the Vote on Dimon)

The same question on whether to split the CEO and Chairman roles at JP Morgan was presented to shareholders a year ago. Forty percent of those who cast ballots voted for the financial giant to separate the positions. Cohen, however, was not among them. Last year, Governance for Owners cast its ballots in favor of allowing Jamie Dimon to stay on as both Chairman and CEO.

But that doesn't mean they'll vote the same way this year.