Ameriprise (AMP) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

• Thursday, July 24, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. EDT

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chairman & Chief Executive Officer — James M. Cracchiolo
• Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer — Walter S. Berman

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TAKEAWAYS

• Assets Under Management, Administration, and Advisement: Reached a record $1.6 trillion, reflecting positive client flows and market appreciation.
• Adjusted Operating Net Revenues: Adjusted Operating Net Revenues increased 4% to $4.3 billion, driven by asset growth across business segments.
• Adjusted Operating Earnings Per Share: Adjusted Operating Earnings Per Share increased 7% to $9.11, supported by both margin strength and expense control.
• Return on Equity: Maintained at 52%, among the highest in the industry, according to management.
• Consolidated Operating Margin: Held at 27% for the quarter.
• Expense Management: G&A expenses declined 3% year to date and are expected to remain at this level for the remainder of 2025.
• Wealth Management Segment: Client Assets: Increased 11% to $1.1 trillion, reaching a new record high.
• Wrap Net Inflows: Wrap Net Inflows totaled $5.4 billion, with $14 billion in draft flows year to date.
• Advisor Productivity: Rose 11% to $1.1 million revenue per advisor.
• Advisor Recruiting: Added 73 experienced advisers, with management noting a strong recruiting pipeline.
• Bank Assets: Grew 6% sequentially in advisory wrap assets as of June 30, 2025, compared to the quarterly average, aided by new product launches in certificates of deposit.
• Wealth Management Margin: Recorded at 29% for the quarter.
• Retirement & Protection Solutions (RPS): Pretax Adjusted Operating Earnings: Pretax adjusted operating earnings increased 9% to $214 million, attributed to favorable life claims and strong interest earnings.
• RPS Sales: Achieved $1.4 billion in retirement and protection solutions sales.
• Asset Management Segment: Assets Under Management: Increased 2% year over year to $690 billion, up 5% sequentially.
• Asset Management Operating Margin: Achieved 39% asset management margin (non-GAAP), at the top end of the target range, driven by expense control.
• Asset Management Flows: Experienced $8.7 billion of net outflows, primarily from institutional redemptions and the previously disclosed Lionstone outflow.
• Operating Earnings (Asset Management): Operating earnings increased 2% to $222 million, reflecting positive expense management and market impacts.
• Capital Return: Returned 81% of operating earnings to shareholders, and plans to increase the payout ratio to 85% for the second half of 2025.
• Excess Capital: Reported $2.3 billion above regulatory requirements, and $2.1 billion in available liquidity.
• Industry Recognition: Received the 2025 Kiplinger’s Readers Choice Award for advisor quality and Fortune’s Most Innovative Companies 2025 recognition.

SUMMARY

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) reported a new all-time high in assets under management, administration, and advisement of $1.6 trillion. while achieving solid year-over-year and sequential growth in both wealth and asset management client assets. Management attributed adjusted operating EPS gains and sustained high margin performance to rigorous expense discipline and technology investments. The company highlighted favorable sales and profitability trends in Retirement & Protection Solutions. Capital allocation priorities were emphasized, with Ameriprise returning the majority of earnings to shareholders and targeting an increase in the payout ratio. New product development, platform launches, and awards for client experience and innovation were cited as strategic differentiators positioning the company for ongoing productivity and market share gains.

• Management explained that seasonal tax payments, client caution, and the liberation day law contributed to slower wealth management flows, but noted early signs of improvement in July.
• Distribution expenses in Advice & Wealth Management rose due to higher advisor production and movement to higher payout levels, with only a minor increase attributed to recruitment packages.
• Asset Management net outflows, which included the Lionstone business, were described as primarily driven by institutional redemptions and elevated industry-wide retail redemptions in April.
• Bank spread income improved as maturing securities were replaced with higher yielding assets. management outlined additional funding through retail liability product launches, including new CDs and planned checking accounts.
• The company reaffirmed its approach of prioritizing quality advisor recruitment and organic growth within its adviser base, declining to follow competitors into aggressive, short-term roll-up strategies.
• Expense optimization continues to leverage technology, data analytics, and automation, with management indicating further productivity improvements as digital and AI tools are more widely adopted by advisors.
• Leadership reiterated succession planning and confidence in management continuity, while emphasizing the long-term stability and performance of the diversified business model following the company’s 20-year public milestone.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Wrap Assets: Client investment accounts managed for a single all-inclusive fee, typically including advisory and transaction services.
• LIBERATION DAY LAW: External event referenced during the call as contributing to client flows volatility; defined in context as a factor impacting client behavior and asset movement in Q2.
• Structured Annuities: Insurance products offering a blend of downside protection and market-based growth, commonly used for retirement and principal preservation strategies.
• CLO: Collateralized Loan Obligation, a type of structured credit product composed of pooled loans and managed for institutional investors.
• Alpha Flows: Internal term for client net flow performance exceeding industry benchmarks, particularly in EMEA retail channels.
• RAP Assets: Refers to managed "wrap" advisory program assets, frequently cited by the company as a core product in wealth management.

Full Conference Call Transcript

On slide three, you see our GAAP financial results at the top of the page for the second quarter. Below that, you see our adjusted operating results, which management believes enhances the understanding of our business by reflecting the underlying performance of our core operations and facilitates a more meaningful trend analysis. Many of the comments that management makes on today's call will focus on adjusted operating results. And with that, I'll turn it over to Jim.

Jim Cracchiolo: Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining our call. As we shared in our release, Ameriprise had another good quarter and first half of 2025, continuing our record of generating strong results over many years in market environments. We feel very good about the strategic direction and competitive strengths of our business, and importantly, our ability to help clients achieve their long-term goals. Reflecting externally, equity markets moved around quite a bit in the quarter, and investors paused and kept more cash on the sidelines. That said, markets proved to be remarkably resilient given ongoing trade dynamics. As we saw, economic conditions were on a firm footing in the first half.

However, questions remain around the next steps and impact of tariffs. With that backdrop, our assets under management, administration, and advisement grew to a new high of $1.6 trillion. In terms of financials, adjusted operating results were also good. Total revenues increased 4% from asset growth and strong transactional activity. Earnings per share increased another 7%, and our return on equity remains among the industry's best at a very strong 52%. Across the business, we continue to implement a significant investment agenda. That includes investments in our leading client experience, technology, digital capabilities, advanced analytics, and AI. And this is made possible by our consistent expense discipline and ongoing transformation efforts across the firm.

On the wealth side, we're delivering strong value through our quality client advisor engagement centered on our goal-based advice experience. And we see this reflected in the excellent client satisfaction that we can consistently earn a 4.9 out of 5. We had strong client engagement, and client assets grew nicely again in the quarter to a new record of $1.1 trillion, up 11%. Total wrap assets were also up, increasing 15%. Wrap net inflows were $5.4 billion and reflected the higher market uncertainty and seasonal impact of client tax payments. And transactional activity was also good. Client total cash holdings increased in the quarter and remained very high. As we would expect based on the market situation and near-term rates.

And these assets on the sideline represent a future growth opportunity. We continue to provide exceptional support and capabilities to our advisors and teams. They're staying closely connected with clients and benefiting from the investments we're making. For example, our intelligence dashboards provide in-depth analysis of key areas of advisor practice like client contact, prospects, and acquisition. We're also using automation analytics to drive efficiency, help advisors enhance personalization based on client needs, and identify opportunities for deepening engagement. And in June, we made a significant addition to our wealth management capabilities with the launch of Signature Wealth, which we feel will help advisors to manage client assets even more holistically and efficiently.

It brings the best of our current advisory platform into a flexible unified management account and frees up capacity for our advisors to further focus on client engagements and practice growth. With the excellent platform we built and the integrated support we provide, our advisors continue to be highly productive and engaged, and productivity grew another 11% to $1.1 million per adviser. Regarding recruiting, we continue to bring in good recruits. Another 73 experienced advisers joined Ameriprise in the quarter, and we feel good about our pipeline as well as our differentiated adviser value proposition. These advisors appreciate our reputable brand, practice support, and financial strength and stability.

We're also hearing how their clients feel overwhelmingly positive about moving to Ameriprise, which is terrific. The bank is also doing well. Total assets were up 6%, and we're earning good spread. Loan growth at the bank is also good, driven by pledge. As we've shared, we're launching new products like our new CD that came out in the second quarter. And in the coming months, we'll be bringing out Helox and checking accounts to add to our product offering. And I would highlight that our wealth business consistently delivers best-in-class margin. It was 29% for the quarter. As part of our larger solution set, our retirement income and protection products help serve clients' full financial picture.

We're driving good sales in our targeted areas, like variable universal life, variable annuities without living benefit riders, and structured annuities. In fact, we saw a nice pickup of 25% from the first quarter within our structured solutions. Advisors appreciate having these strong consistent offerings on the platform that have been developed and seamlessly integrated with our client experience. And we're working closely to support them to engage clients to meet more of their needs. It was another strong quarter for RPS. The business consistently generates good returns for the company and strong free cash flow. The RPS business is one of the most profitable insurance businesses in the industry. Turning to asset management.

We continue to deliver attractive earnings and drive operational efficiencies. Total assets under management administration increased to $690 billion, up 2% year over year and 5% sequentially. Our investment performance continues to be strong across both equity and fixed income. We had excellent long-term performance. More than 70% of our funds were above the median on an asset-weighted basis for the five-year period and more than 80% over ten years. Regarding the one-year, equity performance slipped a bit. However, short-term fixed income performance is very strong at more than 80% above the median. And 99 of our funds were rated four or five stars by Morningstar.

Regarding flows, we had $8.7 billion of outflows in the quarter, largely driven by higher institutional impacts. In global retail, gross sales increased about 10% year over year, but like others, we had higher underlying redemptions. April was especially tough for the industry given the markets. Looking at a flow rate in the US versus active peers, we're a bit ahead in terms of equities and a bit below in fixed income. But we've narrowed the gap. And in EMEA retail, high redemptions also affected that it drove Alpha flows in the quarter, although we did see a nice pickup in UK multi-asset strategies.

On the retail product front, we're adding to our active research enhanced index ETF lineup in the US and gaining flows. And in coming months, we will be extending this capability in EMEA with the launch of a series of active ETFs in the UK and Europe. In terms of the institutional business, we have some higher redemptions that included the previously announced Lionstone outflow. As we move forward, we're adding more CLOs and earning key equity, fixed income, and hedge fund mandates across regions as we had some good results in terms of cross-selling and deepening relationships with current clients. In asset management, we continue to manage expenses extremely well.

We're driving efforts to realign resources, streamline systems, and enhance our processes in the US and globally. We're significantly transforming the business while at the same time maintaining our fee rate. Asset management margin was 39% in the quarter, at the top end of our target range, up nicely from our expense discipline. For Ameriprise overall, our complement of businesses has enabled us to perform very well over different environments and market cycles. Overall, we continue to generate very strong free cash flow, and we have one of the highest returns on equity at more than 50%. We're also having a good balance of share buybacks and dividends.

And we continue to return to shareholders in a significant way and we'll be looking to increase and targeting an 85% payout ratio for the balance of the year. I'd highlight that Ameriprise received some new recognition that adds to the portfolio of accolades that we've earned. We were recently recognized in 2025 by Kiplinger's Readers Choice Award for outstanding overall satisfaction, quality of advice, trustworthy advisers, and for being the most recommended among wealth managers. And second, Ameriprise was also named one of America's most innovative companies 2025 by Fortune. Looking forward, we feel very good about our ability to continue to manage and adjust for the environment.

We're staying focused on our strategic priorities and generating good returns for the business. Now Walter will provide additional color on our financials. Walter?

Walter Berman: Thank you, Jim. Ameriprise delivered continued solid performance with exceptional balance sheet strength in a volatile and uncertain environment. Adjusted operating EPS increased 7% to $9.11 with a strong margin of 27%. Adjusted operating net revenues increased 4% to $4.3 billion from asset growth absorbing the market and rate impacts across our businesses. Expense discipline remains strong from our ongoing firm-wide transformation initiatives. Year to date, G&A expenses improved 3% and we will maintain G&A expenses at this level for the remainder of the year. It was a solid quarter across our businesses and we'll get into the details of our segment results on the upcoming slides.

As we exited the quarter, our balance sheet fundamentals remained very strong and we are well positioned to navigate potential volatility going forward. A stable 90% across our segments combined with our strong balance sheet fundamentals enabled us to return 81% of operating earnings to shareholders in the quarter. We remain committed to returning capital to shareholders at a differentiated pace and plan to increase our payout ratio to 85% for the second half of the year. On slide six, you'll see the EPS growth of 7% was impacted by the market dynamics in the quarter.

Assets under management, administration, and advisement increased to a record high of $1.6 trillion, benefiting from strong wealth management client flows over the past year and equity market appreciation. We delivered strong profitability with a consolidated margin of 27% from 4% revenue growth and continued expense discipline. We continue to generate a best-in-class return on equity of 52%. On slide seven, you see the solid metric results from wealth management given the elevated market volatility and normal seasonal tax payment trends. Revenue per advisor grew 11% to a new high of $1.1 million. This resulted from an 11% increase in client assets to $1.1 trillion with client net inflows of $34 billion over the past year.

RAP assets were up 15% to $615 billion with RAP closed at $33 billion over the past year, representing a 6% annualized flow rate consistent with the prior year. With the volatility in the early part of the quarter and tax season in April, we saw slower flows in the second quarter following a strong first quarter. In total this year, draft flows have been $14 billion consistent with the prior year. In addition, transactional activity levels remain strong. Cash sweep balances were in line with expectations at $27.4 billion compared to $28.6 billion in the prior quarter, reflecting normal seasonal tax payments. We are seeing nice momentum in our experienced adviser recruiting.

Being affiliated with a firm that has an excellent reputation and strong balance sheet fundamentals is attractive to advisors, particularly in the volatility and uncertain environments we've seen this year. Advisors find our value proposition to be compelling and we are focused on making sure our transition packages are attractive to experienced advisers that share our values and commitment to the client experience. On slide eight, you'll see strong financial results from wealth management. Adjusted operating net revenues increased 6% to $2.8 billion. Revenue growth benefited from strong cumulative wrap net inflows and market appreciation over the past year, which more than offset lower spread revenues and the impact from unfavorable markets within the quarter.

Adjusted operating expenses in the quarter increased 9% with distribution expenses up 10%, reflecting growth in adviser productivity. G&A expenses increased 6% to $435 million in the quarter, which was a result of higher growth investments and volume-related expenses due to business growth. However, for the year, we expect low to mid-single-digit growth in G&A. Pretax adjusted operating earnings were $812 million, which included the impact on wrap assets from the dip in equity markets in April. However, we saw a substantial recovery in the equity markets by the end of June, which positions us well as we entered the third quarter. In fact, advisory wrap assets on June 30th were 6% higher than the average for the second quarter.

We saw continued strong contributions from both core and cash earnings in the quarter. Our core earnings grew in the low to mid-single-digit range after absorbing the market impact in the quarter. Cash earnings saw a high single-digit decline from the impact of the Fed funds effective rate reduction since the latter part of 2024. Our strategy leveraging Ameriprise Bank has been important in minimizing the impact from Fed funds effective rate reductions on our AWM business. In fact, we continue to see a modest increase in net investment income in the bank this quarter. Margins remain best in class at 29%. Turning to asset management on Slide nine. Financial results were solid in the quarter.

Operating earnings increased 2% to $222 million. This strong quarter reflected equity market appreciation and the positive impact from expense management actions partially offset by the impact of net outflows. Total assets under management and the buy increased to $690 billion, up both year over year and sequentially from higher ending market levels. Revenues were $830 million with a stable fee rate of 46 basis points. Adjusted operating expenses improved 3% and importantly, G&A expenses improved 5%. As Jim said, we are proactively driving operational transformation across our global footprint, including leveraging capabilities across Ameriprise. We and the benefits from these initiatives is evidence in our G&A expense reductions.

Margins reached 39% in the quarter, which is at the high end of our target range. Let's turn to Slide ten. Retirement and Protection Solutions continue to deliver strong earnings and free cash flow generation, reflecting the high quality of the business that was built over a long period of time. Pretax adjusted operating earnings in the quarter increased 9% to $214 million. The strong and consistent performance of the business reflects the benefits from favorable life claims, strong interest earnings, and higher equity markets. These high-quality books of business continue to generate strong free cash flow with excellent risk-adjusted returns and continue to be an important contributor to the diversified business model.

Overall, retirement and protection solutions sales were solid at $1.4 billion. Structured annuity sales remained strong but were down relative to a very strong level in the prior year. Turning to the balance sheet on Slide eleven. Balance sheet fundamentals and free cash flow generation remain strong. We have an excellent excess capital position of $2.3 billion above regulatory requirements, and we have $2.1 billion of available liquidity, and our investment portfolio is diversified and high quality. We have diversified sources of dividends from all of our businesses, enabled by strong underlying fundamentals. This supports our ability to consistently return capital to shareholders and invest for future business growth. Ameriprise's consistent capital return strategy drives long-term shareholder value.

In summary, on Slide twelve, Ameriprise delivered solid results in the second quarter, which is a continuation of our long track record navigating various market environments. Over the last twelve months, revenues grew 8%, adjusted EPS increased 13%, return on equity grew 240 basis points, and we returned $3 billion of capital to shareholders. We had similar growth trends over the past five years, with 8% compounded annual revenue growth, 17% compounded annual EPS growth, return on equity improving 16 percentage points, and we returned over $12 billion of capital to shareholders. These trends are consistent over the long term as well.

This differentiated performance across multiple speaks to the complementary nature of our business mix as well as our focus on profitable growth. With that, we'll take your questions.

Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star one on your touch-tone phone. Before pressing the numbers. Our first question comes from Steven Chubak from Wolfe Research. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Steven Chubak: Hi. Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. So Jim, it's encouraging to hear commentary on the recruitment backlog improving. I was hoping you could speak to some of the drivers of the softer flows in Q2, recognizing a lot of that related to the liberation day law. And are you seeing any indications of NNA reaccelerating back to that more normal mid-single-digit growth rate?

Jim Cracchiolo: Yes. So, really, at the beginning part of the quarter, between the combination of the tax payments but also the liberation day, you know, those the flows, you had the tax payments out, but then the flows did not bounce back because of the liberation and people a bit more on the sidelines. That started to recover as you got later in the quarter, but was still seeing that pick up a bit more as we get into July. There was also some lumpiness between, you know, the net inflow from some of the recruiting coming in versus some of the terms. I think there are some big checks that were a little irrational given.

So it impacted a little lumpiness there. For some of the ALPS that we had. Overall, we feel good about the overall positioning. The core client base continues to do well. But our base doesn't react so quickly to, you know, the markets. And so it's more of an on average over time, and we'll see that recover.

Steven Chubak: That's great. And since you alluded, Jim, to some of the irrational behavior in this space, as I look at distribution expense within AWM that has steadily higher year on year. At the same time, one of your peers had alluded to some indications that there's some more maybe less aggressive recruitment packages, at least from some of the sponsor-backed firms in particular. Just curious if that's consistent with what you're seeing in the marketplace. And how should we be thinking about that year-on-year trajectory for the AWM distribution expense line in particular?

Jim Cracchiolo: Yes. So I think it's a common issue. Let me explain the distribution, and then I'll get to the recruiting. On the distribution, when we look at the average gross production that we have at the adviser base, it's up nine and that's what they get compensated on. And so if you look at that, that's up 9% versus the idea of total revenue being up six. And because you got the cash business, etcetera. When you look at the production, that match and then you had a little more increase because people moved to higher production levels, so their payout rates go up a bit. And so that's a bit the difference.

Regarding the packages itself, that only had a small incremental piece of it year over year. It's a little bit, but it's not to the extent of what you're looking at as the total. Most of that's production-based. In regarding to the recruitment package, you're right that there are some rationally but there's still some people irrational, particular for certain advisers that you know, unless you have a perfect market going forward and high short-term rates, etcetera, the economics that'll look a little iffy. But, you know, sometimes people will take a huge check of particularly if it's way above what the normal economics will call for.

Operator: Very helpful, caller. Thanks for taking my questions. Our next question comes from Wilma Burdis from Raymond James. Hey, good morning. Just to follow-up on the last question. Talk a little bit more about the recruiting strategy going forward. How you're seeing the market, how you expect to grow there. Thanks.

Jim Cracchiolo: Okay. Yes. So the pipeline looks like it again nicely going through the And we are really focused on selling our total value prop which is helping their credit. Activity. Have average higher productivity on our core adviser base, than most that just associate advisers out there and say, you know, provide a network service We do a lot in capabilities that we provided, but technology. AI support, etcetera. In addition to the coaching training support we provide. So we feel good about that, and we do look to track certain types of advisers. We're not just looking to associate anyone by giving them a big check.

And so we do have to we have to raise a our packages a bit to be based on the competitive frame. But that's where we bring it in alignment with how we can help people really grow and become more successful.

Wilma Burdis: Thank you. And can you talk a little bit more about plans you're thinking right now? I know you talked a little bit about annuity being popular. How are they kind of positioning themselves, and are you seeing them wanting to Thank you.

Jim Cracchiolo: Yes. So if it's on the annuity, business, what we see is a continuation of people being interested in the structured annuities as well as annuities because of the you know, just the overall tax environment, etcetera, and annuities without living benefits. And those are the only two that we really have in the marketplace right now. We're not playing in the fixed annuity area. I know that's might have been an area We have other people on the shelf that we sell. But that regard, we're focused on just those two areas, and they are complementary as a people look at their retirement and long-term income that they're looking to achieve.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Jeffrey Schmidt from William Blair. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Jeffrey Schmidt: Hi. Good morning. With top line growth slowing in wealth management, is there an opportunity to maybe get more aggressive on some of the outsourcing deals or to do larger outsourcing deals or even just get more aggressive on recruiting in general. You know, how do you think about that?

Jim Cracchiolo: Yes. So I think what I would say is we are focused on the recruiting channel. And as I said, we have increased the kind of pedal packages etcetera, that we put in the marketplace just because of the competitive frame. In regard to I don't know if you meant outsourcing. I'm not exactly sure. I mean, as far as the institutional business, that continues to do well and we're continuing to focus there as well as incremental. We are focused on also some of our centralized channel business where we could work with clients beyond the locales of our current advisers, and that we're starting to increase our activity there. And so those are the areas we're focused on.

You know, we have not looked at just rolling up a adviser networks, etcetera, like others, because we wanna continue to maintain a very strong focus on how do we deliver a very good client experience, associate people who actually want to use the advice value proposition appropriately, etcetera, etcetera. Okay.

Jeffrey Schmidt: That's helpful. And then on share buybacks, you mentioned your targeting a payout ratio of 85% in the second half. Historically, it's actually moved higher than that in certain years. Know, probably closer to 90%. Should we expect it to stay up at that level or maybe even move higher if top line weakness sort of continues next year?

Walter Berman: So as we indicate, our target is the 85%. We certainly have the capacity to, and we'll we'll evaluate that on an optimistic basis. And see what's an investment for the shareholders. But that is the current target that we have elevated for the second half.

Jeffrey Schmidt: Okay. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Thomas Gallagher from Evercore ISI. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Thomas Gallagher: Good morning. I'm Tim. Just coming back to the competitive environment in AWM, would you and how just considering what's going on with competition you know, it sounds like you think there's some irrationality to it. Would you expect to shrink overall advisers in the next year or so. Or would you still expect to be able to grow?

Jim Cracchiolo: Yeah. I mean, even now, Tom, we are growing. I mean, we're not four others don't report, but our NetEvise account is actually up. That's not a concern that we have per se. I think what I would probably say is, listen, people will put out more to buy up what they would call, you know, people putting on the system. We look at it as a long term. We have a very strong business over time. I have ten thousand advisers that I look to really help them grow and keep their productivity strong through all market environments.

We have good profitability of what we do where the adviser does well, the firm does well, etcetera, in a in a very consistent balance proposition, and we deliver very strong value to That's what we're looking for. We're not just looking to, like, add people because we can show you short term top line growth and then suffer the consequences later on or have some issues with the type of people being associated. So, I mean, others have different philosophies. I'm not saying their philosophy is incorrect. I'm just saying that's that's where we are. We always stick to this knitting. In the past, we never even recruited externally. We always developed internally. We're still doing that.

But we do now a combination of both. And that's the way we look to maintain our ourselves. And, again, we'll be very competitive, but we will when people get a little over the top, you know, they can do that. Maybe it works for them, but we don't look at it that way.

Thomas Gallagher: Okay. That's that's helpful. And then just follow-up on RPS. The results in the quarter looked quite strong, I guess. Net investment income was up a lot sequentially. Any anything in particular going on there? It looks like mortality was favorable on the life insurance side. Just curious what you're seeing there. And then finally, any updates on potential risk transfer? You've had a bunch of peers doing different deals on long term care, well priced variable annuity deal, Any updated thoughts there? Thanks.

Walter Berman: Good. That's Walter. Tom, so as it relates to strong fundamentals, as you indicated, we did have improvement on life claims which certainly contributed to the increase. So we feel very good about certainly the overall underlying profitability drivers within the business. And as it relates to risk transfer, again, the same thing we talk about is the business is solid. It really does contribute, and we just haven't seen that bid ask change at all. That really makes any sense from a shareholders standpoint. And, Tom, what I would say is and you really studied the industry. Well.

And so what I would say is that this is one of the most profitable insurance businesses and protection businesses out in the industry. These are excellent books. They generate great free cash flow. The returns on equity are really high. The margin is very strong because we built good books over time. We only play in areas that we feel about appropriate for us to be in, but we have all the other providers and the channel that, you know, have all of the other alternatives that people want to use. And so listen, if there's a good strategic relationship or something that makes sense, we will entertain it.

But right now, I would probably say we generate a very good return on it that only complements the business.

Operator: Our next question comes from Alexander Blostein from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Alexander Blostein: Hey. Good morning. Thank you. Two questions for you guys around the bank. It's kinda related, but one, was hoping you guys can give us a sense of roll on roll on, roll off dynamics in the bank securities portfolio right now. Walter, as I recall, you guys put this in place in sizable amounts couple years ago. Spreads were wider. So curious as that securities portfolio rolls over the next call it, year or two, what kind of a spread difference you're seeing on the money you're putting on versus what's coming off? And secondly, heard you guys on the loan strategy. Obviously, that's an important part of the bank belt bank build out going forward.

What's the funding structure for that? The deposits are running relatively light on balance sheet at this point. So you're sort of thinking about growing the loan book, how are you guys planning on funding it? Thanks.

Walter Berman: Sure. So on the portfolio, as we see a pay downs in maturities taking place, you should see a spread increase as it relates to that. That is certainly contributing towards the net interest income improvement year over year. So we feel comfortable with that, and that's part of our strategy that we talked about, that we been executing, certainly, we talked about in the fourth quarter of the last year. As funding for it, we are certainly launching liability products that will fund it, but and so we feel very comfortable with our ability to have that increasing diversification of our liability portfolios, that grows, and matching wealth onto the asset. Strategy that we have.

Alexander Blostein: And the liability product you're launching, is that kinda high yield savings, CDs, things like that?

Jim Cracchiolo: Yes.

Walter Berman: Yes. We have from that standpoint, yes. Alrighty. Great. Thank you very much.

Operator: Our next question comes from Craig Siegenthaler from Bank of America. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Craig Siegenthaler: Hey. Good morning, Jim. Hope everyone is doing well. My question is on recruiting in the wealth management business, and I know you got a few on this topic, a new source reported that Ameriprise is offering up to 125% of trailing revenue commonwealth advisers. So I'm curious you can comment on Ameriprise's ability to take advantage of current MA disruption and if we could see a pickup in recruitment from us.

Jim Cracchiolo: Yeah. We don't comment on represent the marketplace of what people comment. What we would say is we continue to recruit out in the environment more broadly. And we offer relatively appropriate competitive packages. But as I said, we sell the entire value proposition for people that really want the support, the technology, the capabilities, When advisors join us from the competitors, no matter who they are, They rate everything they get from a member nine times out of ten as being better than where they came particularly on our technology suite, the support, etcetera. Our availability of technology, the idea of even how to get onboarded and uptake what we do that helps their business.

The people we brought onboard their productivity improvements have been tremendous coming to us. So after being here for a few years. So that's what we would say, and that's what we recruit on.

Craig Siegenthaler: Thanks, Jim. Just for my follow-up, another wealth manager question. But can you update us on your bank and credit union pipeline? I'm just curious if we could get some lumpy wins announcements in the second half. Thanks.

Jim Cracchiolo: Yeah. The pipeline looks good. I won't comment on any anything in particular, but we feel good about our position in the in the business there. And we continue to, as I would say, build that pipeline and try to execute and get some deals done.

Craig Siegenthaler: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from John Barnidge from Piper Sandler. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

John Barnidge: Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity. My question is around asset management and flow performance. I know there were some comments about higher redemptions even when reflecting the lion's stone a on that left. Can you maybe talk about large client breakage in the quarter distribution environment, what your outlook is for the pipeline converting? Thank you.

Jim Cracchiolo: Yeah. So on the if you reference a little bit on the institutional, as you know, the institution is always gonna be a little lumpy, and we did experience some outflows as you mentioned from the Lionstone termination of that business some LDI, things like that, some move to people repositioning their portfolios, including some that moved a little more to the passive arena. But we are getting some nice underlying wins. In good products in the various equities, and portfolios like that. But the redemption increase that we did see in the second quarter sort of out strip that from some of those other things I just mentioned.

Now on the retail side, we did see we've been really good on the gross sales pickup for the first quarter. Again, what happened is through that April period, things on the gross slowed down, redemptions picked up, now sales have picked up again on the gross side, but the redemptions strip that. I think you saw that in the pure active space. I'm not talking about where people have ETFs and stuff like that picked up a little quicker. Because of the trading they do. But we see a pickup there. And, overall, we feel good about some of the things that we're doing in the market some of the products we're putting.

We're launching some additional ETFs even in Europe now. We're gonna do that. We're putting out a bit more on the CLOs. You know, we just launched an interval fund. So we're we're starting to do some more product development and launch. In combination, and SMAs continues to build for us. So those are the areas, but I would say it was a little more volatile period on the redemption side. And as I looked at the competitive frame, it was no different against the pure actives there. You for that answer.

And my follow-up question, with the focus on the recruitment environment and being competitive and package that need to come over, and clearly a focus on general administrative expenses. Can you maybe talk about how the company weighs adding human capital versus automating an AI? Is there an internal process to determine whether you wanna add it or it can be automated or using a offshore center of excellence to kinda fund that more competitive recruitment environment. Thank you.

Jim Cracchiolo: Yeah. It's a it's a good question. What we consistently do is, in invest in technology And what we try to really do in that regard, like, it investments in AI and giving our advice is more informed dashboards about their practice, what they can do, where the opportunities may be. We also do intelligent automation. For processing and other activities that we do. We invest in what I would call more on the data analytics side on the information that we can process and how to bring that information to bear. And so all those things have been adding to our capabilities. As we do that, we've been able to adjust some of our expense base.

Some of it is offshore. Some of it is just where we then use that money for the investments that we've been making. And so our investment base is very strong. We have driven good productivity improvements. We think there's still good opportunities for further improvements as we get our advisers to uptake more of the tools and capabilities more fully. And use some of the servicing that we put in place. So that's the way we look at it. We don't necessarily just do a one for one trade off, but over time, we continue to transform, adjust the business, and reinvest you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Michael Cyprys from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Michael Cyprys: Hey. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Maybe just circling back on recruiting. I was hoping maybe you could elaborate a little bit on how you're seeing the pipeline up opportunities that across the different affiliations channels where you operate in the marketplace. How you see the mix of that business evolving as you look out? And then just related to that on the distribution expense, certainly back to the Cheubak's question, just on that expense distribution expense ratio right relative to the revenue has ticked up compared to, like, below 60% years ago. You know, I think it's getting to, like, high sixties now, nearly 67% in the quarter. Up 120 basis points or so year on year.

Maybe just remind us, like, what's driving that mix over a multiyear arc of time, and how do you see the different contributing factors And if you look out from here, is this a good run rate to be thinking about, or what would drive that higher as we move forward?

Jim Cracchiolo: Okay. So let me I'll take the first and part of the second, and then we'll look and complement that. On the first, we have a broadway that we do look to recruit. So a combination of independence, wires, regionals, etcetera. Both independent and employee type things as well as you mentioned in the a figure institutional channel. And so we just look for appropriate advisers that really can really, uptake our type of value proposition, want that, wanna grow their productivity, and that's what we focus on. We just don't gobble up and roll up people and just associate network or big checks that just put people on. So that's what we do.

The pipeline looks very good for the third quarter. And that's proceeding. And so we feel good about that. In regard to the distribution expense, some of the distribution expense has picked up because of a lot of, you know, what you would first of all, manage it expenses. So SMAs, other things that we the expense for that is in the in the bottom line. There's a lot more trading activities from all the wrapped type activities, all that. So all of that is booked in the volume. You got FDIC insurance, all that shit stuff that goes on there. And I'll turn it over to Walter for some of the other stuff. So basically, it is consistent.

And when you it is impacted on mark to market on the above deferred comp, and that's what takes it up and down. But we are staying fairly consistent within that point. The sixties. Point 66%. As we indicated, you correlate it. So it is consistent, but it does go up and down based on movement on deferred comp.

Michael Cyprys: It sounds like you wouldn't expect that. To move meaningfully higher from here from that 66, 67% level.

Walter Berman: It should stay in that range. Definitely. For sure. Again, subject to deferred comp, which we'll take it Okay. I'll put that down. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome.

Operator: Our last question today will come from Suneet Kamath from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Suneet Kamath: Hi, Great. Thanks. I appreciate all the questions on recruiting on the call, but if I think back to some of your comments in the past, I had always thought that most of the growth in A and WM comes from your existing advisers, you know, selling business to their existing clients and then existing advisers finding new clients, and then the third piece was the new advisers. So I'm not expecting to give me specific numbers, but is that the right way to think about it in terms of order of magnitude any additional color you can give us on the mix? That would be helpful. Thanks.

Jim Cracchiolo: Yes. Any you're a hundred percent correct. That has not changed. The core growth our business comes from the organic part of adding new business from our advisors, new clients, flows from current clients, etcetera. The on the top of that, you always have some lumpiness of where when you add recruits versus where you have some terms, etcetera, where those things happen. And on that basis, it's always been more positive. What I'm saying in the second quarter, you had some undue level of volatility that affected the flow picture because second quarter is usually weaker anyway with the tax payments etcetera.

So you had that, plus you had the weakness because of the you know, the tariff situation at the beginning of the month. As that starts to had an effect. And then on top of that, as I said, we had a little more lumpiness on the competitive frame. But the underlying consistent then if you look at it over quarters, it's been very consistent and strong. So I think as Walter even said, if you look at the first half of the year, it looks fine. We you look at the second quarter, it looks a little lower.

Suneet Kamath: Okay. That makes sense. And then I guess the maybe a bigger picture question to end the call If I think about the Ameriprise over time, I mean, I think we're approaching twenty year anniversary from the spin, and notwithstanding today's stock price, I think by all measures, it's been a incredible success I guess the question is how is the board thinking about the next five to ten years? Is the next layer of management sort of identified and in place? Does Ameriprise do any significant strategic pivots in terms of perhaps partnering with a larger organization or joint ventures?

Just trying to think about you know, what we're at a pivot point here with this twenty year anniversary Thanks. Does anything dramatically change as we move forward?

Jim Cracchiolo: No, Sunid. Actually, it is a twentieth in September, our twentieth year anniversary. And if you think about it, know, when we came public and all through the financial crisis, etcetera, people really didn't continue to believe that we would be one and since to that time, we've been the number one best performing financial out of the S and P financials. Five hundred financials out of all of them and all the sectors there. Our combination that we always get challenged on, the combination of our business has been very successful. Higher earnings and lower volatility than any one of these individual segments.

So you go through market environments where one business segment does a little better because people hop on it. But overall, we generate very strong returns through shareholders. Very strong cash flow we generate, The business itself is very good and strong for against it. We have one of the premium value proposition and premium brands out in the marketplace for the business that we're in. We created a global asset manager from a proprietary house. I mean, if you look at it, you know, there's always questions quarter to quarter or what competitive frame, etcetera. But go back to all those years you've been a strong follower of us, and you've had it right for a long time.

I would say, the board feels very good about that position that we're in today. We're stronger than we ever been before. We're at a fifty billion dollar market cap from being, you know, coming out at six or eight or whatever the number was at the time. And so a lot of the larger competitors at the time, who were much larger, are now either smaller than us or not as strong. So I would probably say we're in a great position. And that's the way I think both myself and the board. We do have succession. We always look at the next levels of talent, not just one level, but down. So no. We feel very good.

And all the accolades we can get, one of the best managed companies, most innovative companies, all these things just proved to our strength. We got rated one of the best wealth managers again, trust for the advisers, serving our clients well. All those things that people miss them that we're focused on whether it's a recruit or this or that per quarter. But I think if you follow us long term, you'll find that this is a very good strong company. Satisfaction. That operates with high level of focus, integrity, client service, and client satisfaction.

Suneet Kamath: Yeah. I appreciate that. I mean, that's certainly been our view, and it good to hear you express that. So very much very much. Thank you, Sunita.

Operator: We have no further questions at this time. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. At this time,

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