Jamie Dimon said JPMorgan Chase & Co. will scale back spending on some diversity initiatives that he sees as a waste of money, while he also reiterated the bank’s commitment to working with Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ communities.

Dimon, one of Wall Street’s most outspoken leaders, was responding to an employee’s question about JPMorgan’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs during a townhall discussion on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio. Dimon said the plans to cancel some initiatives were about costs that went too far, rather than blowback from the new Trump administration.

“A lot of companies did things I never would have done,” he said, adding that JPMorgan has also probably done some things that “became excessive” and wasted money. “I was never a firm believer in bias training,” Dimon said.

Many companies have sought to make their employees aware of what is known as unconscious bias, where people may form opinions or judgments based on a person’s gender, race, age or other factors.

JPMorgan’s longtime chief executive said the bank’s fundamental approach toward Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ communities isn’t changing, adding that he wants to “lift up society.” But he also questioned some of the bank’s DEI-related spending choices, without going into specifics.

“I saw how we were spending money on some of this stupid sh-t, and it really pissed me off,” Dimon said, according to a recording of the townhall heard by Bloomberg News. “I’m just gonna cancel them. I don’t like wasted money in bureaucracy.”

A JPMorgan spokesman declined to comment on Dimon’s remarks.

DEI programs have become a hot-button issue in the United States in recent years and President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to push companies to scrap the initiatives. Large businesses including Accenture Plc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have since back-pedalled from a raft of DEI pledges.

Dimon said some of JPMorgan’s plans on DEI-related initiatives have nothing to do with Trump becoming president.

JPMorgan, which Dimon has run for nearly two decades, recently lifted his pay to US$39 million for 2024, a year in which the lender beat its own record for the highest annual profit in the history of American banking.

Return-to-Office Backlash

JPMorgan employs more than 300,000 people globally. It recently told many staffers that they have to be in the office five days a week, changing from a three-day requirement. The decision expanded rules announced in April 2023 that require the bank’s managing directors to be in five days a week. About 60 per cent of the bank’s staff — including many traders and retail branch workers — already operated under that requirement.

Some workers launched an online petition addressed to Dimon to appeal against the return-to-office mandate. It had more than 1,200 signatories as of Thursday morning. “I don’t care how many people sign that f-cking petition,” Dimon said during the townhall. His comments about the return-to-work policy were earlier reported by Reuters.

He cited reduced efficiency and creativity in hybrid work settings, and said managers will not be allowed to decide their teams’ workplace arrangements. “There is no chance that I will leave it up to managers. Zero chance. The abuse that took place is extraordinary,” Dimon said.

Dimon also said younger employees have been left behind socially because of hybrid and remote work arrangements. “The young generation is being damaged by this,” he said.

“We understand there’ll be flexibility, but I’m gonna be tracking very closely managers,” he said. “Our managers simply didn’t manage.”

Bloomberg.com