Ameriprise 2013 Annual Report Download - page 78

Asset Management
Our Asset Management segment provides investment advice and investment products to retail, high net worth and
institutional clients on a global scale through Columbia Management and Threadneedle. Columbia Management primarily
provides products and services in the U.S. and Threadneedle primarily provides products and services internationally. We
provide clients with U.S. domestic individual products through unaffiliated third party financial institutions and through our
Advice & Wealth Management segment, and we provide institutional products and services through our institutional sales
force. International retail products are primarily distributed through third-party financial institutions and unaffiliated financial
advisors. Individual products include U.S. mutual funds and their non-U.S. equivalents, exchange-traded funds and variable
product funds underlying insurance and annuity separate accounts. Institutional asset management services are designed
to meet specific client objectives and may involve a range of products, including those that focus on traditional asset
classes, separately managed accounts, individually managed accounts, collateralized loan obligations, hedge funds,
collective funds and property funds. Collateralized loan obligations, hedge funds and certain private funds are often
classified as alternative assets. Revenues in this segment are primarily earned as fees based on managed asset balances,
which are impacted by market movements, net asset flows, asset allocation and product mix. We may also earn
performance fees from certain accounts where investment performance meets or exceeds certain pre-identified targets.
Our Asset Management segment also provides intercompany asset management services for Ameriprise Financial
subsidiaries. The fees for such services are reflected within the Asset Management segment results through intersegment
transfer pricing. Intersegment expenses for this segment include distribution expenses for services provided by our Advice &
Wealth Management, Annuities and Protection segments.
On April 30, 2010, we completed the acquisition of the long-term asset management business of the Columbia
Management Group from Bank of America. The acquisition significantly enhanced the capabilities of the Asset
Management segment by increasing its scale, broadening its retail and institutional distribution capabilities and
strengthening and diversifying its lineup of retail and institutional products. The integration of the Columbia Management
business, which was completed in the second quarter of 2012, involved organizational changes to our portfolio
management and analytical teams and to our operational, compliance, sales and marketing support staffs. This integration
also involved the streamlining of our U.S. domestic product offerings. As a result of the integration, we combined
RiverSource Investments, our legacy U.S. asset management business, with Columbia Management, under the Columbia
brand. Total U.S. retail assets and number of funds under the Columbia brand as of December 31, 2013 were
$239.4 billion and 210 funds, respectively.
From time to time, fee waivers have been provided to the Columbia Money Market Funds (the ‘‘Funds’’) by Columbia
Management and certain other subsidiaries performing services for the Funds for the purposes of reducing the expenses
charged to a Fund in a given period to maintain or improve a Fund’s net yield in that period. Our subsidiaries may enter
into contractual arrangements with the Funds identifying the specific fees to be waived and/or expenses to be reimbursed,
as well as the time period for which such waivers will apply. In aggregate, we voluntarily waived fees of $11 million for both
the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012.
Threadneedle remains our primary international investment management platform. Threadneedle manages eight OEICs and
two Societe d’Investissement A Capital Variable (‘‘SICAV’’) offering. The eight OEICs are Threadneedle Investment Funds
ICVC (‘‘TIF’’), Threadneedle Specialist Investment Funds ICVC (‘‘TSIF’’), Threadneedle Focus Investment Funds (‘‘TFIF’’),
Threadneedle Portfolio Advantage Funds (‘‘TPAF’’), Threadneedle Investment Funds ICVC II (‘‘TIF II’’), Threadneedle
Investment Funds ICVC III (‘‘TIF III’’), Threadneedle Investment Funds ICVC IV (‘‘TIF IV’’) and Threadneedle Opportunity
Investment Funds ICVC (‘‘TOIF’’). TIF, TSIF, TFIF, TPAF, TIF II, TIF III, TIF IV and TOIF are structured as umbrella companies
with a total of 76 (32, 14, 1, 2, 6, 8, 6 and 7, respectively) subfunds covering the world’s bond and equity markets. The
SICAVs are the Threadneedle (Lux) SICAV (‘‘T(Lux)’’) and the Columbia Threadneedle SICAV-SIF (‘‘SIF’’). T(Lux) and SIF are
structured as umbrella companies with a total of 30 (28 and 2, respectively) sub funds covering the world’s bond,
commodities and equity markets. In addition, Threadneedle manages 13 unit trusts, 10 of which invest into the OEICs, 12
property unit trusts and one property fund of funds.
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