Ameriprise 2014 Annual Report Download - page 57

capital requirements of unaffiliated financial institutions with whom we transact business, those institutions may seek to
pass on increased costs, reduce their capacity to transact, or otherwise present inefficiencies in their interactions with us.
It is uncertain whether the Dodd-Frank Act, the rules and regulations developed thereunder, or any future legislation
designed to stabilize the financial markets, the economy generally, or provide better protections to consumers, will have
the intended effect. Any new domestic or international legislation or regulatory changes could require us to change certain
business practices, impose additional costs, or otherwise adversely affect our business operations, regulatory reporting
relationships, results of operations or financial condition. Consequences may include substantially higher compliance costs
as well as material effects on fee rates, interest rates and foreign exchange rates, which could materially impact our
investments, results of operations and liquidity in ways that we cannot predict. In addition, prolonged government support
for, and intervention in the management of, private institutions could distort customary and expected commercial behavior
on the part of those institutions, adversely impacting us.
In recent years, other national and international authorities have also proposed measures intended to increase the
intensity of regulation of financial institutions, requiring greater coordination among regulators and efforts to harmonize
regulatory regimes. These measures have included enhanced risk-based capital requirements, leverage limits, liquidity and
transparency requirements, single counterparty exposure limits, governance requirements for risk management, stress-test
requirements, debt-to-equity limits for certain companies, early remediation procedures, resolution and recovery planning
and guidance for maintaining appropriate risk culture. Our international operations and our worldwide consolidated
operations are subject to the jurisdiction of certain of these non-U.S. authorities and may be materially adversely affected
by their actions and decisions. Potential measures taken by foreign and international authorities also include the
nationalization or expropriation of assets, the imposition of limits on foreign ownership of local companies, changes in laws
(including tax laws and regulations) and in their application or interpretation, imposition of large fines, political instability,
dividend limitations, price controls, changes in applicable currency, currency exchange controls, or other restrictions that
prevent us from transferring funds from these operations out of the countries in which they operate or converting local
currencies we hold to U.S. dollars or other currencies. Any of these changes or actions may negatively affect our business.
A further result of our non-U.S. operations is that we are subject to regulation by non-U.S. regulators and U.S. regulators
such as the Department of Justice and the SEC with respect to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. We expect the
scope and extent of regulation outside the U.S., as well as general regulatory oversight, to continue to increase.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property and may be subject to infringement claims.
We rely on a combination of contractual rights and copyright, trademark, patent and trade secret laws to establish and
protect our intellectual property. Although we use a broad range of measures to protect our intellectual property rights,
third parties may infringe or misappropriate our intellectual property. We may have to litigate to enforce and protect our
copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets and know-how or to determine their scope, validity or enforceability, which
represents a diversion of resources that may be significant in amount and may not prove successful. The loss of
intellectual property protection or the inability to secure or enforce the protection of our intellectual property assets could
have a material adverse effect on our business and our ability to compete.
We also may be subject to costly litigation in the event that another party alleges our operations or activities infringe upon
or constitute misappropriation of such other party’s intellectual property rights. Third parties may have, or may eventually
be issued, patents or other protections that could be infringed by our products, methods, processes or services or could
otherwise limit our ability to offer certain product features. Any party that holds such a patent could make a claim of
infringement against us. We may also be subject to claims by third parties for breach of copyright, trademark, license
usage rights, or misappropriation of trade secret rights. Any such claims and any resulting litigation could result in
significant liability for damages. If we were found to have infringed or misappropriated a third-party patent or other
intellectual property rights, we could incur substantial liability, and in some circumstances could be enjoined from providing
certain products or services to our customers or utilizing and benefiting from certain methods, processes, copyrights,
trademarks, trade secrets or licenses, or alternatively could be required to enter into costly licensing arrangements with
third parties, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial
condition.
Changes in and the adoption of accounting standards or inaccurate estimates or assumptions in applying
accounting policies could have a material impact on our financial statements.
Our accounting policies and methods are fundamental to how we record and report our financial condition and results of
operations. Some of these policies require use of estimates and assumptions that may affect the reported value of our
assets or liabilities and results of operations and are critical because they require management to make difficult,
subjective, and complex judgments about matters that are inherently uncertain. If those assumptions, estimates or
judgments were incorrectly made, we could be required to correct and restate prior-period financial statements.
We prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. From time to time,
the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC and other regulators may change the financial accounting and
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