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Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is a diversified financial services company and
bank holding company A bank holding company is a company that controls one or more banks, but does not necessarily engage in banking itself. The compound bancorp (''banc''/''bank'' + '' corp ration') is often used to refer to these companies as well. United States ...
incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It provides financial planning products and services, including wealth management,
asset management Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of value from the things that a group or entity is responsible for, over their whole life cycles. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as buildings ...
, insurance,
annuities In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Stephen G. (1970). ''The Theory of Interest''. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. p. 45 Examples of annuities are regular deposits to a savings account, m ...
, and
estate planning Estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging, during a person's life, for the management and disposal of that person's estate during the person's life, in the event the person becomes incapacitated and after death. The planning inc ...
. As of April 2022, more than 80% of the company's revenue came from wealth management. The company's primary subsidiaries include Ameriprise Financial Services,
RiverSource Life Insurance Company RiverSource (RiverSource Life Insurance Company) is a US-based Investment management and life insurance firm which is a subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. RiverSource is made up of RiverSource Investments, RiverSource Annuities, and R ...
, and
Columbia Threadneedle Investments Columbia Threadneedle Investments is an American asset management firm. It is a subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial and operates as its asset management arm. History Columbia Threadneedle was formed in 30 March 2015 as the result of a merger be ...
, its global asset management brand, and a provider of investments to institutional and retail clients. Ameriprise was formerly a division of American Express, which completed the corporate spin-off of the company in September 2005. The company is ranked 245th on the
Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by '' Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
. It is on the list of largest banks in the United States. It is also the 9th largest independent
broker-dealer In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and ...
based on assets under management. It is one of the largest financial planning companies in the United States and is among the 25 largest asset managers in the world. It is ranked 8th in long-term mutual fund assets in the U.S., fourth in retail funds in the U.K., and 27th in global assets under management.


Operations

The company specializes in
retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...
-related financial planning for affluent clients. It offers variable annuities and life and disability insurance. It also operates Ameriprise Bank, FSB which offers a variety of consumer banking and lending products and personal trust and related services. Since 2015, its asset management arm operates under the name
Columbia Threadneedle Investments Columbia Threadneedle Investments is an American asset management firm. It is a subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial and operates as its asset management arm. History Columbia Threadneedle was formed in 30 March 2015 as the result of a merger be ...
. The company uses three principal brands for its businesses in the United States: Ameriprise Financial, Columbia Management and RiverSource. The Threadneedle brand is used for its international asset manager's products. Ameriprise Financial Services, a financial planning and retail distribution subsidiary, is a registered broker-dealer and registered investment adviser. It has an integrated model of comprehensive and personalized financial planning, diversified product manufacturing and affiliated and unaffiliated distribution through its network of financial advisors and registered representatives. The retail products and services that use the Ameriprise Financial brand include those that the company provides through its affiliated advisors (e.g., financial planning, investment advisory accounts, retail brokerage services and banking products) and products and services that it markets directly to consumers). RiverSource is the brand for the company's annuities products and for the protection products issued by the RiverSource Life companies, including life and disability income insurance products.


Columbia Threadneedle Investments


Ameriprise advisors

Ameriprise Financial has more than 9,700 branded advisors, the 5th largest branded advisor force in the U.S.


History

The company, originally known as Investors Syndicate, was founded in Minneapolis in1894 by John Tappan. In 1925, West Coast businessman J. R. Ridgway merged his investment firm with Investors Syndicate, and took over as president. In 1937, upon the death of then 50-year-old J. R. Ridgway from leukemia, 23-year-old J. R. Ridgway, Sr. was appointed president. In 1940, Investors Syndicate introduced one of the first mutual funds, the Investors Mutual Fund, giving clients new investing options and two advantages: diversification and professional management. By the 1960s, Investors Mutual Fund was the largest balanced mutual fund in the world. In 1949, Investors Syndicate changed its name to Investors Diversified Services, Inc. (IDS). In 1958, IDS founded the Investors Syndicate Life Insurance and Annuity Company (now known as RiverSource Life Insurance Company). In 1974, the IDS Centre (now
IDS Center The IDS Center is an office skyscraper located at 80 South 8th Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Completed in 1972, it is the tallest building in Minneapolis, and the tallest building in the state at a height of . It originally stood , thou ...
) is opened in downtown Minneapolis as the company's headquarters. In 1979, the Ridgway family sold the last of its ownership interest. IDS became a wholly owned subsidiary of
Alleghany Corporation Alleghany Corporation is an American investment holding company originally created by the railroad entrepreneurs Oris and Mantis Van Sweringen as a holding company for their railroad interests. It was incorporated in 1929 and reincorporated ...
pursuant to a merger. In 1984, American Express acquired IDS Financial Services from Alleghany Corporation. In 1986, IDS acquired Wisconsin Employers Casualty Company of
Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...
and renamed it IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company. In 1994, IDS reached $100 billion in assets. Effective January 1, 1995, IDS changed its name to American Express Financial Corporation, doing business as American Express Financial Advisors (AEFA). In October 2003, AEFA acquired London-based Threadneedle Asset Management Holdings. In September 2005, American Express completed the corporate spin-off of AEFA as Ameriprise Financial, Inc., a public company. In September 2006, the company launched Ameriprise Bank, FSB. In February 2008, Threadneedle acquired Invesco Perpetual's full service defined contribution pension business with total assets of £470 million. In 2009, Ameriprise acquired Standard Chartered Bank's World Express Funds investment funds business, providing Threadneedle with an established Luxembourg-based SICAV platform with over US$2.38 billion worth assets under management. In August 2011, Threadneedle announced the acquisition of the £8 billion in investment assets of LV=. In November 2008, the company acquired
H&R Block H&R Block, Inc., or H&R Block, is an American tax preparation company operating in Canada, the United States, and Australia. The company was founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W. Bloch and Richard Bloch. As of 2018, H&R Block operates approximat ...
Financial Advisors for $315 million, and the asset management firm J. & W. Seligman & Co. for $400 million. During the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...
, the company declined an investment by the United States Department of the Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. In May 2010, Ameriprise Financial acquired Columbia Management, the long-term asset management business of Bank of America, for $1 billion. On April 25, 2011, Ameriprise announced that it was trying to find an "appropriate buyer" for Securities America Financial Corporation to allow its registered representatives to focus on growth opportunities. In November 2011, Ameriprise completed the sale of Securities America to Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services for $150 million in cash and potential future payments. Securities America traced its roots to Financial Dynamics, an insurance marketing organization founded in 1984 by Steve Wild that had between 10,000 and 12,000 affiliated independent insurance agents. In 1993, Financial Dynamics created Securities America, an independent securities broker/dealer, to use its insurance sales force to offer investment management, financial advice and financial planning through a national network of independent financial advisors. In 1998, Securities America was acquired by American Express and was transferred to Ameriprise as part of the corporate spin-off in September 2005. In 2009, Securities America acquired Brecek & Young Advisors, a California-based broker/dealer. Securities America received the inaugural Practitioner Thought Leadership Award from the Retirement Income Industry Association in 2011. In January 2012, the company opened services to individuals in India with US$40,000 equivalent minimum income. Ameriprise also established an insurance brokerage entity in India that was licensed to deal in insurance products by India's
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is a regulatory body under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance , Government of India and is tasked with regulating and licensing the insurance and re-insurance indu ...
(IRDA). Ameriprise India established offices in Delhi, Gurgaon, Greater Noida, Mumbai & Pune. In May 2014, Ameriprise shut down the nascent financial planning division in India, citing poor prospects for fee-based advisory services. In January 2013, the company completed the conversion of its federal savings bank subsidiary, Ameriprise Bank, FSB, to a limited powers national trust bank, which conversion included changing the name of this subsidiary to Ameriprise National Trust Bank. In 2015, Threadneedle rebranded as Columbia Threadneedle. In 2017, the company acquired Investment Professionals, Inc. In 2019, the company sold
Ameriprise Auto & Home Insurance Connect (stylized as CONNECT, powered by American Family Insurance) is an insurance company located in De Pere, Wisconsin. Connect provides auto, home, condo, renters, umbrella (personal liability) and specialty products (through an in-house agen ...
to
American Family Insurance American Family Insurance, also abbreviated as AmFam, is an American private mutual company that focuses on property, casualty, and auto insurance, and also offers commercial insurance, life, health, and homeowners coverage as well as investme ...
for $1.05 billion. In May 2022, Ameriprise announced Phoenix- based financial advisory organisation, Phoenix Wealth Management joined Ameriprise financial. The director of Phoenix Wealth Management Christine Gustafson and her team joined the organisation with more than $450 million in client assets, including assets from individuals, family offices and charitable foundations.


Criticism and controversy

In July 2005, New Hampshire reached a $7.4 million settlement with Ameriprise Financial Advisors, alleging the company had violated the law by rewarding their financial advisers for recommending underperforming in-house mutual funds to clients. In December 2005, Ameriprise agreed to pay a $12.3 million to settle NASD charges relating to favorable treatment allegedly given to some mutual funds in exchange for brokerage business. In December 2005, the company agreed to pay $15 million to settle charges of market timing by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Minnesota Department of Commerce levied $2 million in fines for similar market timing violations and the
National Association of Securities Dealers The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associat ...
fined Ameriprise an additional $12.3 million for unsuitable share sales. Ameriprise had not revealed which funds were timed, or the names of the people involved and the exact nature of the disciplinary action taken.
Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. is an American financial services firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and was founded by Joe Mansueto in 1984. It provides an array of investment research and investment management services. With operations in 29 countries ...
temporarily reduced the stewardship grade for Ameriprise's funds, although it did not impact the fund's overall star ratings from that firm. In September 2006, Securities America reached a $16.3 million settlement with a group of
ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...
retirees for failing to supervise an associated broker. In December 2006, a NASD arbitration panel awarded $9.3 million to three retired
American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...
pilots against Securities America and a formerly associated broker for allegedly mishandling their savings. Also in December 2006, the company settled charges regarding a stolen laptop containing data on an estimated 230,000 customers. On July 11, 2007, the NASD fined Securities America $375,000 for improperly sharing directed brokerage commissions from a mutual fund company with a former Securities America broker. In September 2008, the company agreed to pay as much as $33 million to cover investor losses in the Reserve Primary Fund. On July 10, 2009, the company agreed to pay $17.3 million after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an enforcement action against the company for receiving millions of dollars in undisclosed revenue sharing as a condition for selling certain real estate investment trusts (REITs) to its brokerage customers before the spinoff from American Express. On April 15, 2011, Securities America, Inc. (SAI) and its holding company, Securities America Financial Corporation, entered into settlement agreements related to the sale of private placement securities issued by Medical Capital and Provident Royalties that resulted in a $118 million pre-tax charge in the first quarter of 2011. The charge is in addition to a $40 million pre-tax charge in the fourth quarter of 2010. In April 2008, the company agreed to pay New Hampshire $3.8 million to settle allegations that its Portsmouth agents forged clients’ signatures to cut corners and increase their income. In October 2010, Michael Loscalso, a branch manager in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania who earned $260,000 per year, sued the company after being fired, allegedly for raising serious allegations about the firm’s oversight of brokers. In March 2015, the company paid $27.5 million to settle a lawsuit that it charged its own employees high fees in funds in its
401(k) In the United States, a 401(k) plan is an employer-sponsored, defined-contribution, personal pension (savings) account, as defined in subsection 401(k) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Periodical employee contributions come directly out of their ...
program. In December 2016, the company settled with the U.S. Department of Labor, agreeing to pay $128,200 in back wages for discriminating against 20 black employees by paying them less than similarly situated white workers. In February 2018, the company paid $230,000 to settle allegations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it put customers into higher fee funds. In August 2018, the company paid $4.5 million to settle charges that it failed to safeguard retail investor assets from theft by its representatives after 5 Ameriprise representatives committed fraudulent acts, including forging client documents and stole more than $1 million in client funds over a four-year period.


References


External links

*
Ameriprise Investor Relations
* A small group o
historical corporate records of IDS
are available for research use at th
Minnesota Historical Society.



JD Power ranking of online brokers
* {{Authority control American Express Corporate spin-offs American companies established in 1894 Financial services companies established in 1894 Investment management companies of the United States Companies based in Minneapolis Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange