WealthManagement.com reported on October 30 that Ameriprise Financial executives pushed back on recent reports that the firm had changed how it keeps advisors. Speaking on the third-quarter earnings call on October 29, they said the firm was not running a broad retention program.
On the call, chief executive Jim Cracchiolo told analysts there was no such program and said Ameriprise works with advisors one team at a time, according to transcripts summarized by GuruFocus and the Motley Fool. Chief financial officer Walter Berman said the firm was not changing its recruiting and retention packages and that its focus was organic growth. Before the call, a company spokesperson told InvestmentNews there was no broad-based program when asked about retention bonuses.
According to AdvisorHub, Cracchiolo also attributed a large share of the coverage to unnamed sources and to recruiters pursuing their own interests. GuruFocus's summary of the call said Cracchiolo conceded that bidding for advisor packages is fierce, with certain offers implying payback periods of seven to eight years, while maintaining that Ameriprise remains disciplined about what it offers. Management also said retention for advisors with more than 10 years of tenure ran in the high-90% range.
The reports that prompted the rebuttal began in September. Citywire reported that Ameriprise had been giving select advisors retention bonuses and reduced platform fees to discourage teams from departing for independent RIAs, and AdvisorHub later ran a comparable story. A recruiter told AdvisorHub the bonuses are structured as forgivable loans. Accounts of their size conflict: one AdvisorHub article said they could reach about 100% of a broker's trailing 12-month production, while a later piece put the figure at about 100% of annual revenue.
According to AdvisorHub, Bank of America cut its rating on Ameriprise to Underperform from Buy on October 19 or 20, pointing to advisor team exits and the cost of keeping advisors. Bank of America's analysts reported that, in 2025, lending tied to transition aid and recruiting rose 25% annually. They estimated that, excluding Huntington, Ameriprise's 2026 advisor headcount would likely show a net loss, after headcount grew 0.7% in 2025. RIABiz reported that Ameriprise shares fell more than 4% in one session after the reports and the downgrade.
Management pointed to growth figures from the quarter. Cracchiolo said Ameriprise recruited 79 experienced advisors, per a MarketBeat transcript summary. Net revenue rose 10% to $5.1 billion and adjusted operating earnings rose 14%, according to Morningstar and the same summary. Advisor productivity rose 13% to a record $1.2 million per advisor, a revenue measure rather than an asset figure, according to a Benzinga transcript. The pretax adjusted operating margin was 28%, per Yahoo Finance.
Huntington Bank's advisors completed their transition to Ameriprise on October 19, according to Benzinga, adding about 260 advisors and $28 billion in assets under management, per GuruFocus. Separately, Ameriprise announced on October 15 that it had welcomed three advisor teams with nearly $1.2 billion in assets from RBC Capital Markets' business, according to Morningstar.
Departures are part of the picture as well. Yahoo Finance reported that Rise Private Wealth Management, a Bedford, N.H.-based team, left with about $4.3 billion in assets, and that a Bloomington, Minn.-based team with about $1.3 billion left to form Fathom Advisors.
Citizens Securities, a subsidiary of Citizens Bank, filed suit against Ameriprise and former Citizens advisor Darrell Smith in Massachusetts federal court in October, alleging trade secret misuse, WealthManagement.com reported. According to the complaint, roughly $37 million in client assets departed Citizens around Smith's move, and Citizens suspects those assets ended up at Ameriprise. These are allegations, not findings. A federal court in Boston granted a temporary restraining order barring Smith from contacting Citizens clients he serviced, except those whose accounts had already transferred. The court declined to grant injunctive relief against Ameriprise.
Ameriprise's third-quarter Form 10-Q shows nine-month Advice & Wealth Management revenues of $10,013 million, up 12%, and segment adjusted operating earnings of $2,879 million, up 16%. According to the 10-Q, distribution expenses rose 16%, a change the company links to larger advisor pay tied to wrap account balances and transaction volume. InvestmentNews also reported that UBS and Ameriprise are both introducing or revamping retention bonuses.