Segment Information

The Company’s reporting segments are Advice & Wealth Management, Asset Management, Annuities, Protection and Corporate & Other.

In the first quarter of 2014, the Company made the following changes to its previously reported segment data:


•	Ameriprise interest and debt expense was allocated to all segments to more accurately reflect management’s assessment of capital allocation.


•	Interest accretion income from the intercompany transfer of former bank assets was eliminated for segment reporting resulting in this accretion no longer being allocated to the Annuities and Protection segments. The corresponding offset is no longer reported in the Corporate & Other segment.


•	Certain fixed wholesaling costs were reclassified from distribution expenses to general and administrative expense to improve consistency in our presentation of wholesaling distribution expense across all segments.

The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those of the Company, except for operating adjustments defined below, the method of capital allocation, the accounting for gains (losses) from intercompany revenues and expenses and not providing for income taxes on a segment basis.

The largest source of intersegment revenues and expenses is retail distribution services, where segments are charged transfer pricing rates that approximate arm’s length market prices for distribution through the Advice & Wealth Management segment. The Advice & Wealth Management segment provides distribution services for affiliated and non-affiliated products and services. The Asset Management segment provides investment management services for the Company’s owned assets and client assets, and accordingly charges investment and advisory management fees to the other segments.

All costs related to shared services are allocated to the segments based on a rate times volume or fixed basis.

The Advice & Wealth Management segment provides financial planning and advice, as well as full-service brokerage services, primarily to retail clients through the Company’s advisors. These services are centered on long-term, personal relationships between the Company’s advisors and its clients and focus on helping clients confidently achieve their financial goals. The Company’s advisors provide a distinctive approach to financial planning and have access to a broad selection of both affiliated and non-affiliated products to help clients meet their financial needs. A significant portion of revenues in this segment is fee-based, driven by the level of client assets, which is impacted by both market movements and net asset flows. The Company also earns net investment income on invested assets primarily from certificate products. This segment earns revenues (distribution fees) for distributing non-affiliated products and intersegment revenues (distribution fees) for distributing the Company’s affiliated products and services provided to its retail clients. Intersegment expenses for this segment include expenses for investment management services provided by the Asset Management segment. In January 2013, the Company completed the conversion of Ameriprise Bank to Ameriprise National Trust Bank. As a result of the conversion, Ameriprise National Trust Bank is no longer engaged in deposit-taking and credit-originating activities. In 2012, the Company liquidated banking deposits and returned all funds to its clients. The Company also sold Ameriprise Bank’s consumer loan portfolio to affiliates of Ameriprise Bank and Ameriprise Bank’s credit card account portfolio to Barclays.

The Asset Management segment provides investment advice and investment products to retail, high net worth and institutional clients on a global scale through Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (“Columbia” or “Columbia Management”) and Threadneedle. Columbia Management primarily provides products and services in the U.S. and Threadneedle primarily provides products and services internationally. Columbia provides clients with U.S. domestic individual products through unaffiliated third party financial institutions and through the Advice & Wealth Management segment. Threadneedle provides institutional products and services through the Company’s institutional sales force. International retail products are primarily distributed through third-party institutions. Individual products include U.S. mutual funds and their non-U.S. equivalents, exchange-traded funds and variable product funds underlying insurance and annuity separate accounts. Institutional asset management services are designed to meet specific client objectives and may involve a range of products, including those that focus on traditional asset classes, separately managed accounts, individually managed accounts, collateralized loan obligations, hedge funds, collective funds and property funds. Collateralized loan obligations, hedge funds and certain private funds are often classified as alternative assets. Revenues in this segment are primarily earned as fees based on managed asset balances, which are impacted by market movements, net asset flows, asset allocation and product mix. The Company may also earn performance fees from certain accounts where investment performance meets or exceeds certain pre-identified targets. The Asset Management segment also provides intercompany asset management services for Ameriprise Financial subsidiaries. The fees for all such services are reflected within the Asset Management segment results through intersegment transfer pricing. Intersegment expenses for this segment include distribution expenses for services provided by the Advice & Wealth Management, Annuities and Protection segments.

The Annuities segment provides variable and fixed annuity products of RiverSource Life companies to individual clients. The Company provides variable annuity products through its advisors and its fixed annuity products are distributed through both affiliated and unaffiliated advisors and financial institutions. Revenues for the Company’s variable annuity products are primarily earned as fees based on underlying account balances, which are impacted by both market movements and net asset flows. Revenues for the Company’s fixed annuity products are primarily earned as net investment income on assets supporting fixed account balances, with profitability significantly impacted by the spread between net investment income earned and interest credited on the fixed account balances. The Company also earns net investment income on owned assets supporting reserves for immediate annuities and for certain guaranteed benefits offered with variable annuities and on capital supporting the business. Intersegment revenues for this segment reflect fees paid by the Asset Management segment for marketing support and other services provided in connection with the availability of variable insurance trust funds (“VIT Funds”) under the variable annuity contracts. Intersegment expenses for this segment include distribution expenses for services provided by the Advice & Wealth Management segment, as well as expenses for investment management services provided by the Asset Management segment.

The Protection segment offers a variety of products to address the protection and risk management needs of the Company’s retail clients including life, DI and property casualty insurance. Life and DI products are primarily provided through the Company’s advisors. The Company’s property casualty products are sold through affinity relationships. The Company issues insurance policies through its life insurance subsidiaries and the Property Casualty companies. The primary sources of revenues for this segment are premiums, fees, and charges that the Company receives to assume insurance-related risk. The Company earns net investment income on owned assets supporting insurance reserves and capital supporting the business. The Company also receives fees based on the level of assets supporting VUL separate account balances. This segment earns intersegment revenues from fees paid by the Asset Management segment for marketing support and other services provided in connection with the availability of VIT Funds under the VUL contracts. Intersegment expenses for this segment include distribution expenses for services provided by the Advice & Wealth Management segment, as well as expenses for investment management services provided by the Asset Management segment.

The Corporate & Other segment consists of net investment income or loss on corporate level assets, including excess capital held in the Company’s subsidiaries and other unallocated equity and other revenues as well as unallocated corporate expenses. The Corporate & Other segment also includes revenues and expenses of consolidated investment entities, which are excluded on an operating basis.

Management uses segment operating measures in goal setting, as a basis for determining employee compensation and in evaluating performance on a basis comparable to that used by some securities analysts and investors. Consistent with GAAP accounting guidance for segment reporting, operating earnings is the Company’s measure of segment performance. Operating earnings should not be viewed as a substitute for GAAP income from continuing operations before income tax provision. The Company believes the presentation of segment operating earnings, as the Company measures it for management purposes, enhances the understanding of its business by reflecting the underlying performance of its core operations and facilitating a more meaningful trend analysis.

Operating earnings is defined as operating net revenues less operating expenses. Operating net revenues and operating expenses exclude the results of discontinued operations, the market impact on IUL benefits (net of hedges and the related DAC amortization, unearned revenue amortization, and the reinsurance accrual), integration and restructuring charges and the impact of consolidating investment entities. Operating net revenues also exclude net realized gains or losses. Operating expenses also exclude the market impact on variable annuity guaranteed benefits (net of hedges and the related DSIC and DAC amortization). The market impact on variable annuity guaranteed benefits and IUL benefits includes changes in embedded derivative values caused by changes in financial market conditions, net of changes in economic hedge values and unhedged items including the difference between assumed and actual underlying separate account investment performance, fixed income credit exposures, transaction costs and certain policyholder contract elections, net of related impacts on DAC and DSIC amortization. The market impact also includes certain valuation adjustments made in accordance with FASB Accounting Standards Codification 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, including the impact on embedded derivative values of discounting projected benefits to reflect a current estimate of the Company’s life insurance subsidiary’s nonperformance spread. Integration and restructuring charges primarily relate to the Company’s acquisition of the long-term asset management business of Columbia Management Group on April 30, 2010. The costs include system integration costs, proxy and other regulatory filing costs, employee reduction and retention costs and investment banking, legal and other acquisition costs. Beginning in the second quarter of 2012, integration and restructuring charges also include expenses related to the Company’s transition of its federal savings bank subsidiary, Ameriprise Bank, FSB, to a limited powers national trust bank.

The following tables summarize selected financial information by segment and reconcile segment totals to those reported on the consolidated financial statements:



	December 31,
	2014		2013
	(in millions)
Advice & Wealth Management	$	10,220	$	9,571
Asset Management	7,509		7,223
Annuities	98,535		98,354
Protection	20,779		19,605
Corporate & Other	11,767		9,823
Total assets	$	148,810	$	144,576



	Years Ended December 31,
	2014			2013			2012
	(in millions)
Operating net revenues:
Advice & Wealth Management	$	4,806		$	4,295		$	3,873
Asset Management	3,320			3,169			2,891
Annuities	2,591			2,561			2,519
Protection	2,287			2,186			2,087
Corporate & Other	4			15			26
Eliminations⁽¹⁾	(1,417		)	(1,369		)	(1,253		)
Total segment operating revenues	11,591			10,857			10,143
Net realized gains	37			7			7
Revenue attributable to CIEs	651			345			71
Market impact on IUL benefits, net	(11		)	(10		)	—
Integration and restructuring charges	—			—			(4		)
Total net revenues per consolidated statements of operations	$	12,268		$	11,199		$	10,217

⁽¹⁾ Represents the elimination of intersegment revenues recognized for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012 in each segment as follows: Advice and Wealth Management ($997, $980 and $901, respectively); Asset Management ($44, $39 and $43, respectively); Annuities ($235, $307 and $271, respectively); Protection ($139, $40 and $37, respectively); and Corporate & Other ($2, $3 and $1, respectively).



	Years Ended December 31,
	2014			2013			2012
	(in millions)
Operating earnings:
Advice & Wealth Management	$	792		$	592		$	434
Asset Management	788			691			535
Annuities	633			629			530
Protection	246			336			373
Corporate & Other	(230		)	(229		)	(177		)
Total segment operating earnings	2,229			2,019			1,695
Net realized gains	37			7			7
Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests	381			141			(128		)
Market impact on variable annuity guaranteed benefits, net	(94		)	(170		)	(265		)
Market impact on IUL benefits, net	(6		)	(13		)	—
Integration and restructuring charges	—			(14		)	(71		)
Income from continuing operations before income tax provision per consolidated statements of operations	$	2,547		$	1,970		$	1,238