Ameriprise 2015 Annual Report Download - page 60

of the Treasury or by any of the Domiciliary Regulators or the International Association of Insurance Supervisors with
respect to insurance holding company supervision, capital standards or systemic risk regulation. For additional discussion
on the role and activities of the FIO, see the information provided under the heading ‘‘Regulation — Insurance Regulation’’
contained in Part I, Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Changes in the supervision and regulation of the financial industry, both domestically and internationally, could
materially impact our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.
The Dodd-Frank Act, enacted into law in 2010 called for sweeping changes in the supervision and regulation of the
financial services industry designed to provide for greater oversight of financial industry participants, reduce risk in banking
practices and in securities and derivatives trading, enhance public company corporate governance practices and executive
compensation disclosures, and provide greater protections to individual consumers and investors. Certain elements of the
Dodd-Frank Act became effective immediately, though the details of other provisions remain subject to additional studies
and will not be known until regulatory agencies adopt final rules. The full impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on our company,
the financial industry and the economy cannot be known until the rules and regulations called for under the Act have been
finalized, and, in some cases, implemented over time.
Accordingly, while certain elements of these reforms have yet to be finalized and implemented, the Act has impacted and
is expected to further impact the manner in which we market our products and services, manage our company and its
operations and interact with regulators, all of which could materially impact our results of operations, financial condition
and liquidity. Certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act that may impact our business include but are not limited to the
establishment of a fiduciary standard for broker-dealers, the resolution authority granted to the FDIC, changes in regulatory
oversight and greater oversight over derivatives instruments and trading. We will need to respond to changes to the
framework for the supervision of U.S. financial institutions, including the actions of the FSOC. To the extent the Dodd-Frank
Act or other new regulation of the financial services industry impacts the operations, financial condition, liquidity and
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
38