Ameriprise 2008 Annual Report Download - page 42

claims-paying ratings, service, brand recognition and distribution capabilities. Competitive factors affecting the sale of life and
disability income insurance products include the cost of insurance and other contract charges, the level of premium rates and
financial strength ratings from rating organizations such as A.M. Best. Competitive factors affecting the sale of property
casualty insurance products include brand recognition, distribution capabilities and price.
Technology
We have an integrated customer management system, which serves as the hub of our technology platform. In addition, we
have specialized recordkeeping engines that manage individual brokerage, mutual fund, insurance and banking client
accounts. Over the years we have updated our platform to include new product lines such as brokerage, deposit, credit and
products of other companies, wrap accounts and e-commerce capabilities for our financial advisors and clients. We also use a
proprietary suite of processes, methods, and tools for our financial planning services. We update our technological
capabilities regularly to help maintain an adaptive platform design that will allow a faster, lower-cost response to emerging
business opportunities, compliance requirements and marketplace trends.
Most of our applications run on a technology infrastructure that we outsourced to IBM in 2002. Under this arrangement, IBM
is responsible for all mainframe, midrange and end-user computing operations and a substantial portion of our web hosting
and help desk operations. Also, we outsource our voice network operations to AT&T. In addition to these two arrangements, we
have outsourced our production support and a portion of our development and maintenance of our computer applications to
other firms.
We have developed a comprehensive business continuity plan that covers business disruptions of varying severity and scope
and addresses the loss of a geographic area, building, staff, data systems and/or telecommunications capabilities. We review
and test our business continuity plan on an ongoing basis and update it as necessary, and we require our key technology
vendors and service providers to do the same. Under our business continuity plan, we expect to be able to continue doing
business and to resume operations with minimal service impacts. However, under certain scenarios, the time that it would
take for us to recover and to resume operations may significantly increase depending on the extent of the disruption and the
number of personnel affected.
Geographic Presence
For years ended December 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006, over 96% of our long-lived assets were located in the United States
and over 94% of our revenues were generated in the United States.
Employees
At December 31, 2008, we had 11,093 employees, including 2,823 employee branded advisors (which does not include our
branded franchisee advisors or the unbranded advisors of SAI and its subsidiaries, none of whom are employees of our
company). We are not subject to collective bargaining agreements, and we believe that our employee relations are strong.
Regulation
Most aspects of our business are subject to extensive regulation by U.S. federal and state regulatory agencies and securities
exchanges and by non-U.S. government agencies or regulatory bodies and securities exchanges. Our public disclosure,
internal control environment and corporate governance principles are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, related
regulations and rules of the SEC and the listed company requirements of The New York Stock Exchange, Incorporated.
We have implemented franchise and compliance standards and strive for a consistently high level of client service. For several
years, we have used standards developed by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., in our financial planning
process. We also participated in developing the International Organization for Standardization (‘‘ISO’’) 22222 Personal
Financial Planning Standard published in December 2005. We put in place franchise standards and requirements for our
franchisees regardless of location. We have made significant investments in our compliance processes, enhancing policies,
procedures and oversight to monitor our compliance with the numerous legal and regulatory requirements applicable to our
business, as described below. We expect to continue to make significant investments in our compliance efforts.
Investment companies and investment advisers are required by the SEC to adopt and implement written policies and
procedures designed to prevent violation of the federal securities laws and to designate a chief compliance officer responsible
for administering these policies and procedures. The SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, commonly referred
to as FINRA, have also heightened requirements for, and continued scrutiny of, the effectiveness of supervisory procedures
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