Ameriprise Financial, Inc.
Type	Public (NYSE: AMP)
Founded	1894
Founder	John Tappan
Headquarters	Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Key people	James Cracchiolo, Chairman & CEO
Industry	Financial services
Products	Investments
Website	www.ameriprise.com

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP) is a company offering financial advice and products. It is the successor to American Express Financial Advisors (AEFA), which was a subsidiary of the American Express Company. In 2005, American Express launched the spin-off of AEFA as an independent company. The new name came into effect August 1, 2005, and the transaction closed on September 30, 2005. James Cracchiolo is the chairman and chief executive officer of Ameriprise. The company's headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Image File history File links Ameriprise. ... A public company usually refers to a company which is permitted to offer its securites (i. ... The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange publicly held and listed under the symbol NYX on its own exchange. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... For the computer game previously called Entrepreneur, see The Corporate Machine. ... A Chairman is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization, committee, or other deliberative body. ... A Chief Executive Officer (CEO), or Chief Executive, is the highest-ranking corporate officer, administrator, corporate administrator, executive, or executive officer, in charge of total management of a corporation, company, organization or agency. ... Financial services is a term used to refer to the services provided by the finance industry. ... Investment is a term with several closely related meanings in finance and economics. ... A website (or Web site) is a collection of web pages, images, videos and other digital assets and hosted on a particular domain or subdomain on the World Wide Web. ... The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange publicly held and listed under the symbol NYX on its own exchange. ... American Express (NYSE: AXP), sometimes known as Amex, is a diversified global financial services company, headquartered in New York City. ... August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 30 is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Chairman is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization, committee, or other deliberative body. ... A Chief Executive Officer (CEO), or Chief Executive, is the highest-ranking corporate officer, administrator, corporate administrator, executive, or executive officer, in charge of total management of a corporation, company, organization or agency. ... Headquarters (HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are concentrated. ... Nickname: City of Lakes Motto: En Avant (French: Lets go!) Location in Hennepin County and the state of Minnesota. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area  Ranked 12th  - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 8. ...

History

Ameriprise Financial began life as Investor's Syndicate - in 1894.Here are a few of the company's key milestones: 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

• 1894 - John Tappan founds Investors' Syndicate
• 1937 - Company assets reach $100 million
• 1940 - Investors' Syndicate enters the Mutual Fund market in partnership with Investors Mutual
• 1949 - Investors' Syndicate changes its name to Investors Diversified Services, Inc. (IDS)
• 1958 - IDS Life Insurance is created
• 1984 - American Express completes acquisition of IDS Financial Services
• 1986 - IDS acquires Wisconsin Employers Casualty Company of Green Bay and renames it IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company
• 1994 - IDS reaches $100 billion in assets and conducts business under the American Express brand
• 2003 - American Express Financial Corporation acquires London-based Threadneedle Asset Management
• 2005 - American Express announces plans to spin off American Express Financial Corporation into an independent company
• 2005 - American Express Financial Advisors is renamed to Ameriprise Financial, Inc.
• 2006 - Ameriprise launches Ameriprise Bank, FSB

Ameriprise Financial is the 4th largest financial advisory firm in the US. The company has over 12,000 financial advisors and 2.8 million clients.^{[citation needed]} The company specializes in meeting the retirement-related financial needs of the mass affluent. Ameriprise Financial ranked only 10th out of 13 in overall client satisfaction in a 2006 J.D. Power & Associates survey of full service financial advisory firms.^[1] In a 2006 survey of over 37,000 US companies, BusinessWeek ranked Ameriprise Financial as the 19th best place to launch a career.^[2] As of 1/26/2007, Morningstar has given a Stewardship Grade of 'C' to Ameriprise and has given a star rating of 2 stars out of a possible 5.^{[citation needed]} American Express (NYSE: AXP), sometimes known as Amex, is a diversified global financial services company, headquartered in New York City. ... Retirement is the point where a person stops employment. ... Mass affluent is a marketing term used to refer to the growing high end of the mass market. ... J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services firm founded in 1968 which provides consumer ratings on goods from cars to restaurants. ... BusinessWeek is a business magazine published by McGraw-Hill. ...

Ameriprise Advisors

Many Ameriprise advisors are Certified Financial Planners. Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. has the largest number of these professionals among any retail advisory force. The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and certification marks are financial planning credentials awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. ...

An Ameriprise financial advisor earns a living by charging clients for financial advice and selling products. Below is an overview of three ways Ameriprise financial advisors can affiliate with Ameriprise Financial:

• Approximately 60% of Ameriprise financial advisors are independent contractor franchisees — they are not employed by Ameriprise Financial. They are licensed registered representatives of Ameriprise Financial and do not receive a salary from the company.

• About one-quarter of financial advisors are employed by Ameriprise Financial ("employee financial advisors").

• The company also has associate financial advisors. These financial advisors are employed by the independent contractor franchisees.

Ameriprise financial advisors are broker/dealers. An independent contractor is a person or business which provides goods or services to another entity under terms specified in a contract. ... Franchising (from the French for honesty[citation needed]) is a method of doing business wherein a franchisor licenses trademarks and tried and proven methods of doing business to a franchisee in exchange for a recurring payment, and usually a percentage piece of gross sales or gross profits as well as...

Fee structure

Ameriprise Financial charges clients a flat fee for a personal financial plan, which typically ranges from $500 - $5,000.^[3] Within 90 Days of receiving the plan, you may request a refund, for any reason, by completing and returning, by fax or mail, the Financial Planning Fee Refund request form.

Ameriprise Financial and its advisors also receive commissions when they sell their clients mutual funds, annuities, insurance, and various other investment products. The central idea of a mutual fund is to enable investors to pool their money and place it under professional investment management. ... The term annuity in current use in the insurance industry, refers to two very different types of legal contracts with very different purposes. ... Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. ... Invest redirects here. ...

Criticism & controversy

In 2005 Ameriprise received the single largest fine that the NASD levied that year.^[4] The State of New Hampshire also levied the largest fine in its history against the company, $7.4 million, in early 2005, based on the charge that the company utilized its financial plan fraudulently— as a vehicle to sell its propriety products in breach of its fiduciary duties to clients.^[5] 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The court of chancery, which governed fiduciary relations prior to the Judicature Acts The fiduciary duty is a legal relationship between two or more parties, most commonly a fiduciary or trustee and a principal or beneficiary, that in English common law is arguably the most important concept within the portion...

Also in 2005, Ameriprise Financial entered into a $15 million settlement with the SEC for charges of market timing. The settlement addressed practices between January 2002 and August 2003. The SEC accused the company of failing to prevent market-timing— even after amending its prospectus to include explicit prohibitions against the practice. The SEC alleged that after January 2002, when American Express Financial Corporation banned market-timing, the funds still allowed shareholders to rapidly trade the funds, and that some employees rapidly traded through their 401(k) plans. As part of the settlement, Ameriprise is required to make annual presentations to its board of directors about its policies and procedures to prevent market timing.^{[citation needed]} The National Association of Securities Dealers fined Ameriprise an additional $12.3 million and the Minnesota Department of Commerce levied an additional $2 million in fines for similar violations.^[6] 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Market timing is the strategy of making buy or sell decisions of financial assets (often stocks) by attempting to predict future market price movements. ... January is the first month of the year and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... For other uses, see August (disambiguation). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January is the first month of the year and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... The 401(k) plan is a type of employer-sponsored retirement plan in the United States and some other countries, named after a section of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. ... In relation to a company, a director is an officer of the company charged with the conduct and management of its affairs. ...

Ameriprise did not disclose this incident to the shareholders of its funds, marketed under the name RiverSource since being spun off from American Express. American Express made a disclosure in its regulatory filings, but these were seen only by American Express stockholders. Ameriprise, having become a separate company, had also not revealed which funds were timed, or the names of the people involved and the exact nature of the disciplinary action taken. Morningstar temporarily reduced the stewardship grade for Ameriprise's funds, although it did not impact the fund's overall star ratings from that firm.^[7] RiverSource logo RiverSource is a subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. ... The phrase Morning Star can refer to several things. ...

In 2006, in addition to being threatened with NASD suspension for failing to pay an arbitration award to a former broker^[8], Ameriprise lost two arbitration cases. The NASD awarded $22 million to a group of Exxon Mobil Corp. retirees who accused brokerage firm Securities America Inc. of improperly steering them into high-risk investments between 1996 and mid-2003.^[9] Another NASD arbitration panel imposed a $9.3 million penalty against Securities America, the brokerage unit of Ameriprise, on behalf of three retired American Airlines pilots who alleged their broker steered their money into more aggressive funds and trading them on an almost daily basis. Other airline pilots have arbitration claims pending.^[10] For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), headquartered in Irving, Texas, is an oil producer and distributor formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. ... On ground of assurance of the return, there are two kinds of Investments - Riskless and Risky. ... American Airlines (AA) is the largest airline in the world in terms of total passengers-miles transported [1] and fleet size[], and the second-largest airline in the world (behind Air France-KLM) in terms of total operating revenues[]. A wholly owned subsidiary of the AMR Corporation, the airline is...

The total number of regulatory actions that have been imposed on Ameriprise by the NASD can be found by using NASD's brokercheck system, available on their homepage.

Class Action Settlement

The settlement resolves class action litigation arising out of alleged business practices of American Express Company, American Express Financial Corporation (now known as RiverSource Investments LLC), American Express Financial Advisors Inc. (now known as Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc.), and James M. Cracchiolo (“Defendants”). Plaintiffs are individuals who purchased mutual funds, financial plans or fee-for-advice services from Defendants.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Defendants have established a cash settlement fund of $100 million, which is accruing interest. Reasonable costs associated with giving notice to the class and administering the settlement will not be deducted from the settlement fund, but will instead be paid separately by Defendants. After deduction of any attorneys’ fees and costs awarded by the Court, the parties will distribute the entire settlement fund, together with interest, to class members in accordance with the Plan of Allocation. The parties estimate that approximately 2,450,000 persons are eligible to claim a share of the settlement fund. If you purchased an AXP Fund from March 10, 1999 through and including April 1, 2006 (the "Class Period") your minimum recovery will be $20. If you purchased a Preferred Fund during the Class Period your minimum recovery will be $50, subject to certain contingencies described in the Plan of Allocation attached to the Notice. If you purchased an American Express financial plan or other financial advice during the Class Period, you may be entitled to additional settlement compensation. Your recovery will depend on the total number of claims actually submitted by class members, the value of those claims under the Plan of Allocation, and other considerations.

This information taken from the website set-up to address class members' claims: http://www.financialfeesettlement.com/

See also

• American Express
• RiverSource

American Express (NYSE: AXP), sometimes known as Amex, is a diversified global financial services company, headquartered in New York City. ... RiverSource logo RiverSource is a subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. ...

External links

• Ameriprise Investor Relations
• Ameriprise Advisor Locator
• Ameriprise Yahoo Finance
• Ameriprise Consumer Opinion Message Board

References

• Financial fact sheet and history. Ameriprise.
• Ameriprise Financial (October 3, 2006). 2006 Ameriprise Financial Completes First Year as an Independent, Public Company. Press release.
• NASD (October 26, 2005). NASD Fines Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. $500,000 for Supervisory Violations in 529 College Savings Plan Sales. Press release.
• Ameriprise Financial (May 25, 2005). Ameriprise Financial Chosen as New Name for American Express Financial Advisors. Press release.
• Ameriprise Financial (February 1, 2005). American Express to Spin Off Financial Advisors Business to Shareholders. Press release.