Ameriprise 2014 Annual Report Download - page 64

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results
of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of our consolidated financial condition and results of operations should be read in
conjunction with the ‘‘Forward-Looking Statements,’’ our Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes that follow and the
‘‘Consolidated Five-Year Summary of Selected Financial Data’’ and the ‘‘Risk Factors’’ included in our Annual Report on
Form 10-K. Certain reclassifications of prior year amounts have been made to conform to the current presentation.
References below to ‘‘Ameriprise Financial,’’ ‘‘Ameriprise,’’ the ‘‘Company,’’ ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’ and ‘‘our’’ refer to Ameriprise
Financial, Inc. exclusively, to our entire family of companies, or to one or more of our subsidiaries.
Overview
Ameriprise Financial is a diversified financial services company with a 120 year history of providing financial solutions. We
offer a broad range of products and services designed to achieve the financial objectives of individual and institutional
clients. We are America’s leader in financial planning and a leading global financial institution with more than $806 billion
in assets under management and administration as of December 31, 2014.
Our strategy is centered on helping our clients confidently achieve their goals by providing advice and managing their
assets and protecting their assets and income. We utilize two go-to-market approaches in carrying out this strategy:
Wealth Management and Asset Management.
Our wealth management capabilities are centered on the long-term, personal relationships between our clients and our
financial advisors and registered representatives (our ‘‘advisors’’). Through our advisors, we offer financial planning,
products and services designed to be used as solutions for our clients’ cash and liquidity, asset accumulation, income,
protection, and estate and wealth transfer needs. Our focus on personal relationships, together with our discipline in
financial planning and strengths in product development and advice, allow us to address the evolving financial and
retirement-related needs of our clients, including our primary target market segment, the mass affluent and affluent, which
we define as households with investable assets of more than $100,000. The financial product solutions we offer through
our advisors include both our own products and services and the products of other companies. Our advisor network is the
primary channel through which we offer our affiliated insurance and annuity products and services.
Our network of approximately 9,700 advisors is the primary means through which we engage in our wealth management
activities. We offer our advisors training, tools, leadership, marketing programs and other field and centralized support to
assist them in delivering advice and product solutions. We believe that our nationally recognized brand and practice vision,
local marketing support, integrated operating platform and comprehensive set of products and solutions constitute a
compelling value proposition for financial advisors, as evidenced by our strong advisor retention rate and our ability to
attract and retain experienced and productive advisors. We have and will continue to invest in and develop capabilities and
tools designed to maximize advisor productivity and client satisfaction.
We are in a compelling position to capitalize on significant demographic and market trends driving increased demand for
financial advice and solutions. In the U.S., the ongoing transition of baby boomers into retirement, as well as recent
economic and financial market crises, continues to drive demand for financial advice and solutions. In addition, the
amount of investable assets held by mass affluent and affluent households, our target market, has grown and accounts for
over half of U.S. investable assets. We believe our differentiated financial planning model, broad range of products and
solutions, as well as our demonstrated financial strength throughout the economic downturn of recent past years, will help
us capitalize on these trends.
Our asset management capabilities are increasingly global in scale, with Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC
(‘‘Columbia’’ or ‘‘Columbia Management’’) as the primary provider of products and services in the U.S. and Threadneedle
Asset Management Holdings S` arl (‘‘Threadneedle’’) as the primary provider of products and services outside of the U.S. We
offer a broad spectrum of investment advice and products to individual, institutional and high-net worth investors. These
investment products are primarily provided through third parties, though we also provide our asset management products
through our advisor channel. Our underlying asset management philosophy is based on delivering consistently strong and
competitive investment performance. The quality and breadth of our asset management capabilities are demonstrated by
118 of our mutual funds, including 51 Columbia Management funds and 67 Threadneedle funds, being rated as four- and
five-star funds by Morningstar.
We are positioned to continue to grow our assets under management and to strengthen our asset management offerings
to existing and new clients. Our asset management capabilities are well positioned to address mature markets in the U.S.
and Europe. We also have the capability to leverage existing strengths to effectively expand into new global and emerging
markets. In the past few years, we have expanded beyond our traditional strengths in the U.S. and UK to gather assets in
Continental Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Africa. In addition, we continue to pursue opportunities to leverage
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