Wells Fargo Follows JPMorgan in Cutting Ties With Shareholder Proxy Advisers

Conservatives have alleged political bias in how proxy agents advise fund managers to vote their shares.

Wells Fargo bank in Washington on July 21, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Wells Fargo, America’s fourth largest bank, followed JPMorgan in cutting ties with third-party proxy agents, who advise fund managers how to vote at corporate shareholder meetings. 

This proxy advisory business has been largely controlled by two companies—Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis—which together comprise more than 90 percent of the market. These firms have come under criticism in recent years from conservatives who allege that the advisers have been leveraging their dominant role in shareholder voting to push a left-wing agenda on issues including climate and social justice. 

“Wells Fargo’s decision, especially coming right after JPMorgan’s, is a major signal that large institutions are no longer comfortable outsourcing fiduciary voting responsibility to proxy advisers,” Tim Schwarzenberger, portfolio manager for Inspire Investing, told The Epoch Times. “ISS and Glass Lewis have held outsized influence for years, often driving political and social agendas far beyond long-term shareholder value.”

On Jan. 28, Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management announced the launch of its own proprietary proxy voting service for clients to vote on corporate shares that they invest in. 

“We recognize the vital role our clients play in the companies they invest in,” said Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer of Wealth & Investment Management. “Offering an in-house proxy voting service allows us to take more direct responsibility for our proxy voting approach.”

Several weeks ago, JPMorgan also ended its relationship with ISS and Glass Lewis, bringing its proxy advisory services in house as well. 

In his 2024 letter to shareholders, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, criticized “misguided proxy advisors,” saying they were among the reasons fewer U.S. companies wanted to list on public exchanges. 

Many asset managers have recently sought to depoliticize their roles as corporate shareholders. In the past year, a flood of banks and asset managers have quit activist U.N.-sponsored climate clubs including the Net Zero Banking Alliance and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative.  

These moves come amid threats of boycotts and investigations from conservative attorneys general and state treasurers.

In December, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order, charging that ISS and Glass Lewis “regularly use their substantial power to advance and prioritize radical politically-motivated agendas,” and directing his administration to investigate them for antitrust activity, among other things.

“These proxy advisors have supported shareholder proposals requiring American companies to conduct racial equity audits and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and one continues to provide guidance based on the racial or ethnic diversity of corporate boards,” Trump stated. 

In response to Trump’s order, ISS issued a statement, saying that its “research, voting policies, and vote recommendations are based on apolitical, thorough, independent, and objective analysis.”

“Our clients are sophisticated institutional investors who determine how they wish to vote in accordance with their own differentiated investment objectives by selecting from a range of voting policies that guide our work on their behalf, or by creating customized policies for advice tailored to their own particular needs,” it added.

Financial analysts say that these moves by JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are an ominous sign for proxy agents, who stand to lose more business if other firms follow suit.

“For years, we and many other investors urged ISS and Glass Lewis to reduce ideological bias and provide more balanced frameworks—they largely refused and repeatedly denied there was any meaningful bias at all,” Schwarzenberger said. “We warned that markets would create alternatives and regulators would apply greater scrutiny, and both are now happening.”

Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, who has also been critical of ISS and Glass Lewis, called the situation “a truly stunning case study in corporate suicide.”  

“By abandoning a focus on their fiduciary duty to push radical left wing politics in the board room, they not only betrayed their customers, but also alerted federal and state governments to how pernicious they had become,” Hild said. “Now, even large banks like Wells Fargo, who once themselves pushed some of the same policies, have found ISS and Glass Lewis so obnoxious and untrustworthy they’ve decided it’s better to simply provide the service themselves.”

The Epoch Times reached out to ISS and Glass Lewis for comment but did not receive a reply before publication time.