Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) Chief Financial Officer Walter Berman outlined the company’s integrated business model, interest-rate positioning, advisor growth strategy, and capital return priorities during Bank of America’s 34th Annual Financial Services Conference in Miami. Berman, a more than two-decade Ameriprise veteran following a long career at its former parent American Express, emphasized that the company’s three core businesses—wealth management, asset management, and insurance—are designed to work together rather than operate as standalone units.
Berman said Ameriprise’s history of navigating market cycles has been supported by how its businesses “leverage each other” to serve clients in a “seamless and efficient” way. In discussing the outlook for interest rates, he noted that equity markets have provided “a lot of wind at your back” in recent years, while the company has taken steps to reduce sensitivity to short-term rates.
He said Ameriprise rebuilt its bank after “de-banking” in 2012 to both service clients and create more stable earnings through sweep accounts. More recently, management invested to reduce reliance on short-term earnings and to maintain asset-liability matching and asset quality. Berman said the company is now at its “lowest level of exposure to short-term interest rates,” adding that the bank has roughly $7 billion in off-balance sheet and short-term cash, which he described as a low point. He also cited a duration of nearly 3.8 years and an average earning rate around 5% on recent investments.
On sweep economics, Berman described the on-balance-sheet sweep as a spread business that the company manages to a 100-120 basis point range, while noting that the greatest impact from rate cuts would be on off-balance-sheet sweep balances, though he characterized the impact as marginal.
In discussing profitability drivers in wealth management and related bank cash, Berman framed Ameriprise’s approach as a “stewardship model” focused on meeting client needs profitably, operating efficiently with appropriate risk management, and maintaining talent to drive execution across the enterprise.
He said the bank has grown to nearly $23 billion in assets and is intended to deepen client relationships while contributing stable earnings. Berman pointed to planned offerings including checking accounts, home equity lines of credit, and expanded pledge loans as part of broadening capabilities for wealth clients.
On advisor recruiting and retention, Berman said Ameriprise’s value proposition centers on helping advisors grow through referrals, field resources, and integrated tools that support frequent client engagement. However, he acknowledged competitive pressure from increasingly aggressive offers made to advisors, including from independent broker-dealers and private equity firms. He said Ameriprise is “changing our approaches” on what it is willing to provide to remain competitive, which has put pressure on the firm, but added that the company has margin to absorb the impact and will continue to “re-engineer and adjust.”
Berman said advisor growth remains a key driver of net new assets. He cited the company adding 91 advisors in the last quarter discussed and 336 in 2025, describing the recruiting program as active and indicating Ameriprise is committed to competing amid shifting value propositions in the channel. He also said Ameriprise’s organic advisor growth track record is “the highest in the industry,” and reiterated a long-term target of about 4% growth in net new assets on average over time, while cautioning there can be “bumps in the road” due to attrition and recruitment variability.
Discussing channel mix over the next three to five years, Berman highlighted multiple growth avenues:
Franchise and employee channels: He said the franchise channel continues to grow and the company has the margin to compete, while the employee channel has been “a little tighter” due to wirehouse retention efforts but is still growing.
Bank channel: He pointed to a newly announced relationship with Huntington as expected to support growth.
Remote channel and succession planning: Berman said Ameriprise is investing in its remote, team-based model both to grow and to provide succession planning options. He also described the company’s willingness to buy advisor practices partially or fully in some cases, which he said can enable different investment and growth approaches.
Asked about advisor size relative to wirehouses, Berman agreed wirehouse advisors are larger on average, but said Ameriprise is focused on attracting higher-value advisors and more affluent clients, noting the firm’s target client profile has moved from $100,000+ to $500,000 and $1 million+ levels.
On money market fund balances and potential cash movement as rates decline, Berman said the firm’s sweep balances are already near what is operationally needed—about 2% to 3%—because advisors have historically sought to avoid idle cash. He also said Ameriprise attracted nearly $45 billion into third-party money market funds and CDs during the period, on which the company earns about five basis points, and suggested redeployment of those balances could represent an opportunity.
Regarding sweep pricing, Berman said Ameriprise runs weekly competitive screens and is “probably slower to react” to reducing client crediting rates, emphasizing the process is benchmark-driven and governed with controls rather than subjective changes.
Berman also discussed “Signature Wealth,” which he said was announced in May 2025. He described it as an effort to combine the wealth management and asset management capabilities into a more seamless investment strategy—bringing together SMA and related components—so advisors can manage clients more efficiently than “managing money in sleeves.” He said 38 new SMAs were launched as part of the effort and that early adoption and new money have been strong. He also noted the structure is intended to allow the company’s asset management business to participate more fully in areas where it previously could not due to affiliated participation constraints.
On the asset management business, Berman said the firm’s US asset manager has about 15% to 17% participation in the wealth network and that it competes on a “level playing field” without preferential treatment. He said the platform has launched active ETFs, interval funds, and other products, and reiterated that Signature Wealth is expected to expand opportunity in discretionary areas.
Asked about returning to positive net flows in asset management, Berman said there is a pathway but called it “a long journey.” He said performance is foundational, adding equity performance has been strong while fixed income results were less favorable due to a past duration position that “was wrong,” which is “working its way through.” He emphasized expense actions as “true process reengineering” rather than simple cost cutting, aimed at maintaining margins while improving client service.
On insurance, Berman said it represented roughly 80% of profitability around the 2005 timeframe but is now about 15%. He said it remains strategically important as part of the client solution set and provides stable cash flows, while noting Ameriprise has reduced risk over time by exiting auto and home insurance, transferring fixed annuity risk through reinsurance, and discontinuing living benefit products on variable annuities. He said the company continues to evaluate manufacturing versus distribution and added that Ameriprise would not buy an insurance company today, but views the existing book as valuable to retain given its quality and risk-return characteristics.
In a question on capital deployment, Berman said Ameriprise has a strong excess capital and liquidity position and returned 88% of capital to shareholders through dividends and buybacks in 2025. Looking ahead, he said the company is targeting about 85% to 90% returns and indicated it may buy back shares more aggressively in light of recent market moves, describing them as a buying opportunity, while maintaining that shareholder returns are not coming at the expense of investing in the business.
Ameriprise Financial, Inc is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm provides a range of advice-based wealth management, asset management and insurance products to individual and institutional clients. Its business model centers on delivering financial planning and investment advice through a network of financial advisors alongside proprietary product offerings designed to meet retirement, protection and accumulation needs.
Core products and services include comprehensive financial planning and advisory services, managed investment portfolios, retirement planning solutions, annuities and life insurance products.
