Ameriprise 2010 Annual Report Download - page 65

General and Administrative Expense
General and administrative expense includes compensation, share-based awards and other benefits for employees (other
than employees directly related to distribution, including financial advisors), integration costs, professional and consultant
fees, information technology, facilities and equipment, advertising and promotion, legal and regulatory and corporate
related expenses.
Owned, Managed and Administered Assets
Owned assets include certain assets on our Consolidated Balance Sheets for which we do not provide investment
management services and do not recognize management fees, such as investments in non-affiliated funds held in the
separate accounts of our life insurance subsidiaries, as well as restricted and segregated cash and receivables.
Managed assets include managed external client assets and managed owned assets. At January 1, 2010, we consolidated
approximately $5.5 billion of client assets in VIEs onto our Consolidated Balance Sheets that were not previously
consolidated. Prior to January 1, 2010, these assets were included in managed external client assets and were
subsequently included in managed owned assets. Managed external client assets include client assets for which we
provide investment management services, such as the assets of the Columbia funds and Threadneedle funds, assets of
institutional clients and client assets held in wrap accounts. Managed external client assets also include assets managed
by sub-advisors selected by us. Managed external client assets are not reported on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.
Managed owned assets include certain assets on our Consolidated Balance Sheets for which we provide investment
management services and recognize management fees in our Asset Management segment, such as the assets of the
general account, RiverSource Variable Product funds held in the separate accounts of our life insurance subsidiaries and
client assets of CIEs.
Investors in the mutual funds and face amount certificates we advise may redeem shares on each business day, provided
that redemption orders are submitted in a timely fashion. For our institutional clients, advisory contracts may generally be
terminated (and managed assets redeemed) upon 30 days’ written notice. However, we may in limited circumstances
negotiate customized termination provisions with certain clients during the contracting process, or we may waive negotiated
notice periods at our discretion. Investors in the private investment funds we sponsor can generally redeem shares as of
each month end upon 30-days advance written notice, with limited exceptions. In addition, the notice requirements for our
private investment funds may be waived or reduced at the discretion of the applicable fund.
Administered assets include assets for which we provide administrative services such as client assets invested in other
companies’ products that we offer outside of our wrap accounts. These assets include those held in clients’ brokerage
accounts. We generally record fees received from administered assets as distribution fees. We do not exercise
management discretion over these assets and do not earn a management fee. These assets are not reported on our
Consolidated Balance Sheets.
We earn management fees on our owned separate account assets based on the market value of assets held in the
separate accounts. We record the income associated with our owned investments, including net realized gains and losses
associated with these investments and other-than-temporary impairments related to credit losses on these investments, as
net investment income. For managed assets, we receive management fees based on the value of these assets. We
generally report these fees as management and financial advice fees. We may also receive distribution fees based on the
value of these assets.
Our owned, managed and administered assets are impacted by net flows of client assets, market movements and foreign
exchange rates. Owned assets are also affected by changes in our capital structure.
The following table presents detail regarding our owned, managed and administered assets:
As of December 31,
2010 2009 Change
(in billions, except percentages)
Owned Assets $ 22.1 $ 36.9 (40)%
Managed Assets(1):
Columbia 355.5 149.0 NM
Threadneedle 105.6 97.8 8
Wrap account assets 112.7 94.9 19
Eliminations(2) (27.4) (15.9) 72
Total Managed Assets 546.4 325.8 68
Administered Assets 104.2 95.1 10
Total Owned, Managed and Administered Assets $ 672.7 $ 457.8 47%
NM Not Meaningful.
(1) Includes managed external client assets and managed owned assets.
(2) Includes eliminations for Columbia mutual fund assets included in wrap account assets and Columbia assets sub-advised by
Threadneedle.
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