Ameriprise Financial CFO Touts Integrated Model, Advisor Growth and Bigger Buybacks at BofA Conference

• Integrated model: Ameriprise said its wealth, asset management and insurance businesses are designed to work together and the company has reduced sensitivity to short-term rates: banks’ duration is about 3.8 years, average earnings rate is ~5%, and about $7 billion in off-balance sheet/short-term cash.

• Growth and channel strategy advisor.: The firm added 336 advisors in 2025, targets net new asset growth of around 4% over the long term, and is expanding franchise, bank (Huntington), remote/team, and succession options, while adjusting compensation to remain competitive.

• Capital returns and buybacks: Ameriprise returned 88% of capital in 2025 and plans to target approximately 85% to 90% to shareholders in the future, indicating potential for more aggressive share buybacks while continuing to invest in the business.

• Are you interested in Ameriprise Financial, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like best.

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 veteran of more than two decades at Ameriprise after 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 independent units.

Berman said Ameriprise’s history of navigating market cycles has been supported by the way its businesses “leverage each other” to serve customers in a “seamless and efficient” manner. Discussing the outlook for interest rates, he noted that equity markets have provided “a lot of wind at their backs” in recent years, while the company has taken steps to reduce sensitivity to short-term rates.

→ Amazon is betting big on BETA: why analysts see a 50% advantage

He said Ameriprise rebuilt its bank after “debanking” in 2012 to serve customers and create more stable profits through sweep accounts. More recently, management has invested to reduce reliance on short-term earnings and maintain asset-liability matching and asset quality. Berman said the company is now at its “lowest level of short-term interest rate exposure,” adding that the bank has about $7 billion in off-balance sheet, short-term cash, which he described as a low point. It also cited a duration of almost 3.8 years and an average win rate of around 5% on recent investments.

Regarding the economics of the sweep, Berman described the on-balance sheet sweep as a spread business that the company manages in a range of 100 to 120 basis points, while noting that the biggest impact of the rate cuts would be on the off-balance sheet sweep balances, although he characterized the impact as marginal.

→ Cisco Systems under $82? Buy now, it won’t last: $182 is available

Analyzing 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 company.

He said the bank has grown to nearly $23 billion in assets and aims to deepen customer relationships while contributing stable profits. Berman pointed to planned offerings that include checking accounts, home equity lines of credit and expanded pledged loans as part of expanding capabilities for wealthy customers.

→ Palantir is down 27%, but long-term math still favors bulls

Regarding advisor recruitment and retention, Berman said Ameriprise’s value proposition focuses 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 advisers, including independent broker-dealers and private equity firms. He said Ameriprise is “changing our approaches” on what it is willing to offer to remain competitive, which has put pressure on the company, but added that the company has room to absorb the impact and will continue to “reengineer and adjust.”

Berman said advisor growth remains a key driver of net new assets. He cited that the company added 91 advisors in the last quarter discussed and 336 in 2025, describing the recruiting program as active and indicating that Ameriprise is committed to competing amid changing value propositions in the channel. He also said Ameriprise advisors’ track record of organic growth is “the highest in the industry” and reiterated a long-term goal of about 4% growth in net new assets on average over time, while warning that there may be “bumps along the way” due to attrition and recruiting variability.

When analyzing the channel mix over the next three to five years, Berman highlighted multiple avenues for growth:

• Franchise channels and employees: He said the franchise channel continues to grow and the company has room to compete, while the employee channel has been “a little tighter” due to wirehouse retention efforts, but is still growing.

• Banking channel: He noted that a recently announced relationship with Huntington is expected to support growth.

• Remote channel and succession planning: Berman said Ameriprise is investing in its team-based remote model both for growth and to provide succession planning options. He also described the firm’s willingness to partially or fully buy advisory practices in some cases, which he said can allow for different investment and growth approaches.

When asked about the size of advisors relative to wirehouses, Berman agreed that wirehouse advisors are larger on average, but said Ameriprise is focused on attracting higher-value advisors and wealthier clients, noting that the company’s target client profile has moved from the $100,000+ levels to the $500,000 and $1 million+ levels.

As for money market fund balances and the potential movement of cash as rates decline, Berman said the company’s swept balances are already close to what is needed operationally (about 2% to 3%) because advisors have historically tried to avoid idle cash. He also said Ameriprise attracted nearly $45 billion in money market funds and third-party CDs during the period, on which the company earns about five basis points, and suggested that reallocating those balances could present an opportunity.

Regarding sweep pricing, Berman said Ameriprise conducts weekly competitive assessments and “probably reacts more slowly” to lowering customer credit rates, emphasizing that the process is driven by benchmarks and governed by controls rather than subjective changes.

Berman also talked about “Signature Wealth,” which he said was announced in May 2025. He described it as an effort to combine wealth and asset management capabilities into a more fluid 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 that 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 affiliate participation limitations.

As for the asset management business, Berman said the company’s U.S. asset manager has a 15% to 17% stake in the wealth network and 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 opportunities in discretionary areas.

When asked about the return to positive net flows in asset management, Berman said there is a path, but called it “a long journey.” He said performance is critical, adding that equity performance has been strong, while fixed income results were less favorable due to a past duration position that was “wrong,” and that is “working its way through.” He emphasized the spending actions as “true process reengineering” rather than simple cost reduction, aimed at maintaining margins while improving customer service.

As for insurance, Berman said it represented about 80% of profitability in the 2005 period, but now it represents about 15%. He said it remains strategically important as part of the client’s suite of solutions and provides stable cash flows, while noting that Ameriprise has reduced risk over time by exiting auto and home insurance, transferring fixed annuity risk through reinsurance and discontinuing living benefit products into variable annuities. He said the company continues to evaluate manufacturing versus distribution, adding that Ameriprise wouldn’t buy an insurance company today, but sees value in retaining the existing book given its quality and risk-return characteristics.

In a question about 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 returns of around 85% to 90% and indicated it could buy back shares more aggressively in light of recent market moves, describing them as a buying opportunity, while maintaining that Returns to shareholders do not come at the expense of investment in the business.

Ameriprise Financial, Inc is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm offers a range of advisory-based wealth management, asset management and insurance products to individual and institutional clients. Its business model focuses on providing financial planning and investment advice through a network of financial advisors along with 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.

The article “Ameriprise Financial CFO touts integrated model, advisor growth and bigger buybacks at BofA conference” was originally published by MarketBeat.