Do JP Morgan’s Board Members Have the Experience to Protect Shareholder Interests?

(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) -- As NewsVisual reported earlier on Friday, JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), along with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, made a large financial commitment to provide help to the troubled investment-banking firm The Bear Stearns Companies Inc (NYSE:BSC).

In what appeared to be an effort to preemptively mitigate any investor concerns over whether this commitment would adversely affect JPMorgan’s financial health, the Bank made the following blunt statement in its Friday morning press release:

“JPMorgan Chase does not believe this transaction exposes its shareholders to any material risk.”

NewsVisual decided to create an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map in order to illustrate the business connections of JP Morgan’s Board of Directors as a method for assessing whether they have enough experience of financial issues so that they can look after the Bank’s shareholders’ interests.

A key question, though, is do they understand current market conditions.

The Knowledge Map shows that six of the bank’s Directors currently serve on other corporate boards.

  Most noteworthy is Director William H Gray III, who is also a Director for Dell Computer Corp, Pfizer Inc, Prudential Financial Inc, and Visteon Corp.

Likewise, the following three Morgan Directors are noteworthy for serving on more than one other corporate board: Director James S Crown is also a Director for General Dynamics Corp and Sara Lee Corp; Director Ellen V Futter is also a Director for American International Group Inc and Consolidated Edison Inc; and Director Robert I Lipp is also a Director for Accenture Ltd and The Travelers Companies Inc.

Click here for an interactive and fuller version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).