Selling their own bank stocks, not only JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon among Wall Street executives

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon had previously planned to sell nearly $140 million worth of JPMorgan Chase stock, marking the first time he has sold equity in the bank in his 18-year tenure. In fact, Dimon is not the only high-ranking Wall Street executive selling their own bank stocks, as there are many executives from the six major banks on Wall Street doing the same.

Dimon's previous insistence on not selling stocks stems from his mentor Sandy Weill, who groomed him as a successor at Citigroup and required management to hold onto their stocks until they left the company. JPMorgan Chase has also touted this as a selling point, claiming that Dimon has never sold a single share of JPMorgan Chase stock. However, Dimon's recent sale will make him the top executive in terms of selling shares among Wall Street banks.

Regulatory data shows that since Dimon took over JPMorgan Chase in 2006, six out of the top ten executives in terms of selling shares among the six major banks on Wall Street come from JPMorgan Chase. Among them, Mary Erdoes, head of JPMorgan Chase's asset and wealth management, sold $63 million worth of shares, Daniel Pinto, head of the investment bank, sold $53 million worth of shares, Douglas Petno, head of the commercial bank, sold $34 million worth of shares, and Marianne Lake, co-head of the consumer banking business, sold $29 million worth of shares. However, a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson stated that these executives still hold more than 50% of the shares they were originally granted.

In addition, while Dimon did not sell any shares during his previous 17 years at JPMorgan Chase, executives from other major Wall Street banks were selling shares like crazy during this period.

James Gorman, the outgoing CEO of Morgan Stanley, has sold $78 million worth of the bank's shares since 2010, with approximately $48 million sold just this year. Ted Pick, who will succeed Gorman in January, has already sold $30 million worth of shares, while his previous competitors for the position, Dan Simkowitz and Andy Saperstein, have sold $25 million and $19 million worth of shares, respectively.

Senior executives at Goldman Sachs have also followed suit. CEO David Solomon has sold $22 million worth of his own stocks since 2006, and John Waldron, the second-in-command, has sold $20 million worth of stocks. Former executive John Rogers sold $34 million worth of stocks.

In comparison, executives at Citigroup and Bank of America have been more restrained in selling stocks. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan previously sold $1.9 million worth of his own stocks, but has not sold any since becoming CEO. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has also not sold any stocks since taking office. In terms of shareholding ratio, Damon is in a league of his own among Wall Street executives. Even after selling his shares this time, Damon still holds more of his own bank's stocks than other current Wall Street executives. A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase said that half of the JPMorgan Chase stocks he holds were personally purchased by him from the open market. In comparison, James Gorman also bought 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stocks out of his own pocket in 2011 and sold them five years later.

The only one who comes close to Damon in terms of shareholding is David Viniar, the former CFO of Goldman Sachs, who is still serving on the board of directors. Data shows that Damon currently holds 0.3% of JPMorgan Chase's outstanding shares, while Viniar, after selling $75 million worth of stocks in 2006, still holds 0.28% of Goldman Sachs' shares. In comparison, Gorman only holds 1 million shares of Morgan Stanley, and Solomon only holds 140,000 shares of Goldman Sachs.