Ameriprise 2008 Annual Report Download - page 8
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6 Ameriprise Financial 2008 Annual Report
in technology, value and growth. We’re confident that
these strong performers will contribute to overall improve-
ments in our RiverSource® investment performance,
which struggled in 2008. In addition, Seligman’s
extensive distribution capabilities and relationships
significantly enhance our ability to distribute
RiverSource products outside our advisor force.
Our ability to seize these opportunities amid the
exceptionally challenging conditions highlights the
value and importance of our strong capital position,
which helped us withstand the numerous adverse
market events during the year. Still, our investment
portfolio was not immune to the market environment—
we recorded $777 million in net realized losses during
the year. While this is substantial, our overall loss
position compared favorably to peer companies as
a percentage of either equity or assets. We take
a conservative approach to valuing assets and have
the ability to hold investments to maturity, which we
believe will allow us to recover a substantial portion
of these losses over time.
We expect the market and economic challenges to
persist in 2009 and have taken action to prepare for
short-term weakness while preserving our long-term
potential. As we continue to execute our strategy,
integrate our recent acquisitions and invest for future
growth, we also have accelerated our re-engineering
efforts, both in the U.S. and at Threadneedle in the
U.K. We intend to reduce pre-acquisition general and
administrative expenses by approximately 10 percent
in 2009; this is on top of the significant reduction we
achieved in 2008. As is appropriate in the current