Wanger Advisors Trust

Fund shares are NOT deposits or other obligations of, or issued, endorsed or guaranteed by, Bank of America, N.A. or any of its affiliates. Fund shares are NOT issued, insured or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, the FDIC or any other government agency.

Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) and its affiliates are paid for the services they provide to the Fund and may be compensated or incented in connection with the sale of Fund shares. The Fund may be used as an investment option for various products and services offered by Bank of America that may raise economic and other conflicts of interest, which are discussed in this prospectus.

This prospectus tells you about Wanger International Select (the Fund), which is one of the international/global equity funds in the Columbia Funds family of mutual funds (Columbia Funds). It is designed to provide you with important information about the Fund in a concise and easy to understand manner that is meant to help you make informed investment decisions.

The Fund is an underlying investment vehicle for certain variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies issued by participating insurance companies as well as for certain qualified plans and retirement arrangements and accounts (Retirement Plans).

Depending on the context, references to “you” or “your” in this prospectus refer either to (i) the holder of a variable annuity contract, holder of a variable life insurance policy or participant in a Retirement Plan or (ii) the insurance company that issues the contract or policy or the Retirement Plan itself. Throughout this prospectus, references to a Fund “shareholder” or to “buying,” “selling,” “holding,” “owning,” or “transferring” Fund shares refer only to the insurance company investing in the Fund through a separate account or to the Retirement Plan itself, and not to a holder of a contract or policy or participant in a Retirement Plan.

We have included a number of features designed to facilitate your use of this prospectus, including:

You also can find more information about the Fund in the Statement of Additional Information (SAI), which includes more detailed information about the Fund’s investments, policies and management, among other things. Turn to the back cover to find out how you can get a copy.

The SEC provides a “Beginners’ Guide to Mutual Funds” which may be useful to some investors and is available online, free of charge, at www.sec.gov.

The Fund is sponsored by Columbia Management Group, LLC (Columbia Management), which is the primary investment division of Bank of America. Columbia Management is located at 100 Federal Street, Boston, MA 02110.

Columbia Wanger Asset Management, L.P. is the Fund’s investment advisor (the Advisor) and its administrator (the Administrator). Columbia Management Distributors, Inc. is the Fund’s distributor (the Distributor). Columbia Management Services, Inc. is the Fund’s transfer agent (the Transfer Agent).

The Fund, like all mutual funds, is designed to be a part of a broad and diversified investment portfolio and is not intended to fulfill all of your investment needs.

You should consider the objectives, risks and expenses of the Fund and any other Columbia Fund, including the Columbia Wanger Funds, carefully before investing.

Benchmarks are indices that provide some guidance in assessing fund performance. A fund does not, however, limit its investments to the securities within its benchmark(s), and a fund’s holdings can differ from those of any particular benchmark or index. Benchmarks are only guideposts for performance.

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 65% of its net assets in foreign companies in developed markets (for example, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom). The Fund also may invest up to 35% of its total assets in companies in emerging markets (for example, China, India and Brazil). The Fund invests in at least three countries other than the United States but may invest up to 25% of its total assets in securities of U.S. issuers.

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests a majority of its net assets in small- and mid-sized companies with market capitalizations under $25 billion at the time of investment. However, if the Fund’s investments in such companies represent less than a majority of its net assets, the Fund may continue to hold and to make additional investments in an existing company in its portfolio even if that company’s capitalization has grown to exceed $25 billion. Except as noted above, under normal circumstances, the Fund may invest in other companies with market capitalizations above $25 billion, provided that immediately after that investment a majority of its net assets would be invested in companies with market capitalizations under $25 billion.

The Advisor believes that stocks of companies with market capitalizations under $25 billion, which generally are not as well known by financial analysts as larger companies, may offer higher return potential than stocks of larger companies. The Fund also may invest in larger-sized companies.

The Fund takes advantage of the Advisor’s research and stock-picking capabilities to invest in a limited number of foreign companies (between 40-60), offering the potential to provide above-average growth over time.

The Advisor may sell a portfolio holding if the security reaches the Advisor’s price target, if the company has a deterioration of fundamentals, such as failing to meet key operating benchmarks or if the Advisor believes other securities are more attractive. The Advisor also may sell a portfolio holding to fund redemptions.

International equity funds invest primarily in equity securities of companies outside of the United States. Equity securities have the potential to provide you with higher returns than many other kinds of investments, but they also tend to have the highest risk. Foreign securities involve special risks not associated with investing in the U.S. stock market. International equity funds may be a suitable investment for you if you:

Foreign securities include debt, equity or derivative securities which are determined to be “foreign” on the basis of an issuer’s domicile, its principal place of business, its primary stock exchange listing, the source of its revenues or other factors.

Emerging markets comprise those countries whose economies are considered to be developing – or emerging from underdevelopment – and usually include most or all of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America or Africa. Emerging market countries may experience instability resulting from rapid social, political and economic development and their securities markets may be less developed and more thinly traded.

These are summaries of the principal risks associated with the principal investment strategies of the Fund. Additional risks are associated with other permissible investments of the Fund that are described in the SAI together with further information about these principal risks. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective.

The following bar chart and table show you how the Fund has performed in the past, and can help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The Fund’s past performance (before or after taxes) is no guarantee of how the Fund will perform in the future.

The bar chart below shows you how the performance of the Fund has varied from year to year. These returns do not reflect deductions of sales charges or fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract, variable life insurance policy and/or Retirement Plan, if any, and would be lower if they did.

The table below shows the Fund’s average annual total returns. These returns do not reflect deductions of fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract, variable life insurance policy and/or Retirement Plan, if any, and would be lower if they did.

The table compares the Fund’s returns for each period with those of the S&P Developed Ex-U.S. Between $2 Billion and $10 Billion^® Index, the Fund’s primary benchmark, the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia, Far East (MSCI EAFE) Index and the Lipper Variable Underlying International Growth Funds Index. The S&P Developed Ex-U.S. Between $2 Billion and $10 Billion^® Index is a subset of the broad market selected by the index sponsor representing the mid- and small-cap developed and emerging markets, excluding the United States. The MSCI EAFE Index is a capitalization-weighted index that tracks the total return of common stocks in 21 developed-market countries within Europe, Australasia and the Far East. The Lipper Underlying International Growth Funds Index is an equally weighted representation of the 30 largest variable insurance underlying funds in the Lipper Variable Underlying International Growth Funds Classification. Indices are not available for investment, and do not reflect sales charges, fees, brokerage commissions, taxes or other expenses of investing.

The fee table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. You may also incur fees and expenses associated with your variable annuity contract, variable life insurance policy and/or Retirement Plan. The table does not reflect fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract, variable life insurance policy and/or Retirement Plan, if any. If the table reflected these fees and expenses, the figures shown below would be higher. You will find details about these fees and expenses in the prospectus that describes your variable annuity contract and/or variable life insurance policy or in the documents that describe your Retirement Plan. Additional hypothetical fee and expense information relating to the Fund can be found in Hypothetical Fees and Expenses.

Total net annual operating expenses for any year are actual expenses paid by the Fund after any contractual fee waivers or expense reimbursements, and are expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average net assets for the year.

The Fund may incur significant transaction costs, such as brokerage commissions on the purchase and sale of portfolio securities, in addition to the annual Fund operating expenses disclosed in the fee table.

The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example does not reflect fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract, variable life insurance policy and/or Retirement Plan, if any. If the example reflected these fees and expenses, the figures shown below would be higher.

The example illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over the time periods indicated, and assumes that:

Remember this is an example only. It is not necessarily representative of the Fund’s actual expenses in the past or future. Your actual costs could be higher or lower depending on the amount you invest and on the Fund’s actual expenses and performance.

This section describes certain strategies and policies that the Fund may utilize in pursuit of its investment objective, and describes some additional factors and risks involved with investing in the Fund.

The Fund is available for purchase through certain variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered by the separate accounts of participating insurance companies as well as directly to qualified plans and certain other permitted persons. Due to differences in tax treatment and other considerations, the interests of various contract owners and the interests of qualified plans may conflict. The Fund does not foresee any disadvantages to shareholders arising from these potential conflicts of interest at this time. Nevertheless, the Board of Trustees of the Fund intends to monitor events to identify any material irreconcilable conflicts which may arise, and to determine what action, if any, should be taken in response to any conflicts. If such a conflict were to arise, one or more separate accounts might be required to withdraw its investments in the Fund or shares of another mutual fund may be substituted. This might force the Fund to sell securities at disadvantageous prices.

The Fund’s investment objective and certain of its investment policies can be changed without shareholder approval unless otherwise stated in this prospectus or the SAI. Shareholders vote on changes to other investment policies that are designated as fundamental in accordance with the requirements of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act).

As a general matter, and except as specifically described in the discussion of the Fund’s principal investment strategies in this prospectus, whenever an investment policy or limitation states a percentage of the Fund’s assets that may be invested in any security or other asset, or sets forth a policy regarding an investment standard, compliance with that percentage limitation or standard will be determined solely at the time of the Fund’s acquisition of the security or asset. For these purposes, the Fund determines the characteristics of a company at the time of initial purchase, and subsequent changes in a characteristic are not taken into account.

The Fund may hold investments that aren’t part of its principal investment strategies. These investments are described in the SAI. The Fund may choose not to invest in certain securities described in this prospectus and in the SAI, although it has the ability to do so.

The Fund may invest uninvested cash in shares of the registered or unregistered money market funds advised by affiliates of the Advisor. The Advisor and its affiliates receive fees from these funds for providing advisory and other services in addition to the fees which they are entitled to receive from the Fund for services provided directly.

The Fund may lend portfolio securities to approved broker/ dealers or other financial intermediaries on a fully collateralized basis in order to earn additional income. The Fund may lose money from securities lending if, for example, it is delayed in or prevented from selling the collateral after the loan is made or recovering the securities loaned or if it incurs losses on the reinvestment of cash collateral.

A description of the Fund’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of Fund portfolio securities is available in the SAI. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings on Form N-CSR or Form N-Q (forms filed with the SEC that include portfolio holdings information) for the period that includes the date as of which the information is current.

The Fund considers changes in its portfolio holdings to be confidential information. Consequently, Fund policy generally permits the disclosure of portfolio holdings information only after a certain amount of time has passed.

The Fund may from time to time take temporary defensive investment positions that are inconsistent with the Fund’s principal investment strategies in attempting to respond to adverse market, economic, political or other conditions including, for example, investments in money market instruments or holdings of cash or cash equivalents. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective while it is investing defensively. The Advisor currently expects that substantially all of the Fund’s assets will be invested in accordance with its principal investment strategies. As a result, the Fund expects to remain substantially exposed to the equity markets.

Benchmarks are indices that provide some comparative guidance in assessing the Fund’s performance. The Advisor selects the benchmarks it believes provide meaningful comparisons for each Fund. However, there may be different or additional indices that more closely reflect the market sectors in which the Fund invests. The Fund does not limit its investments to the securities within its benchmarks, and accordingly the Fund’s holdings will differ from those of its benchmarks. The Fund’s benchmarks may change from time to time. The benchmarks included in this prospectus are intended only as guideposts for your assessment of the Fund’s performance.

The Fund is governed by its Board of Trustees. More than 75% of the Fund’s Trustees are independent (Independent Trustees), meaning that they have no affiliation with the Advisor or the Columbia Funds, apart from their positions as Trustees and the personal investments they may have made as private individuals. The Independent Trustees bring backgrounds in business and academia to their task of working with the Fund’s officers to establish the Fund’s policies and oversee its activities. Among the Trustees’ responsibilities are selecting the investment advisor for the Fund; negotiating the advisory agreements; reviewing other contracts; approving investment policies; monitoring Fund operations, performance, compliance and costs; and nominating or selecting new Trustees.

Each Trustee serves the Fund until his or her retirement, resignation, death or removal; or otherwise as specified in the organizational documents of the Trust. It is expected that every five years the Trustees will call a meeting of shareholders to elect Trustees. The next meeting is expected to be called in 2011. A Trustee must retire at the end of the year in which he or she attains the age of 75. Any Trustee may be removed at a shareholders’ meeting by a vote representing two-thirds of the net asset value of all shares of the Columbia Wanger Funds. The mailing address for the Trustees and officers is 227 W. Monroe, Suite 3000, Chicago, Illinois 60606.

For more detailed information about the Board of Trustees, please refer to the SAI.

The Advisor, Administrator, Distributor and Transfer Agent, all affiliates of Bank of America, currently provide key services to the Fund and certain other Columbia Funds, including investment advisory, administration, distribution, shareholder servicing and transfer agency, and are paid for providing these services. These service relationships are described below.

The Advisor is located at 227 West Monroe Street, Suite 3000, Chicago, Illinois 60606. As of March 31, 2009, the Advisor had assets under management of approximately $17.1 billion. The Advisor is a registered investment advisor and an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America. In addition to serving as investment advisor to mutual funds, the Advisor acts as an investment manager for other institutional accounts.

Subject to oversight by the Board, the Advisor manages the day-to-day operations of the Fund, determining what securities and other investments the Fund should buy or sell and executing the Fund’s portfolio transactions. The Advisor may also use the research and other expertise of its affiliates and third parties in managing the Fund’s investments.

The Fund pays the Advisor a fee for its investment advisory services. The fee is calculated as a percentage of the average daily net assets of the Fund and is paid monthly. For the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, aggregate advisory fees paid to the Advisor by the Fund amounted to 0.94% of average daily net assets of the Fund. See the Fund’s fee and expense table for details regarding the current advisory fee.

A discussion regarding the basis for the Board’s approval of the Fund’s investment advisory agreement with the Advisor is available in the Fund’s annual report to shareholders for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008.

Information about the Advisor’s portfolio manager who is primarily responsible for overseeing the Fund’s investments is shown in the table below. The SAI provides more information about the portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio manager and the portfolio manager’s ownership of securities in the Fund.

Portfolio Manager and Analyst of the Advisor; associated with the Advisor or its predecessors as an investment professional since 2001. Vice President of the Trust since 2001.

The Administrator is responsible for overseeing the administrative operations of the Fund, including the general supervision of the Fund’s operations, coordination of the Fund’s service providers, and the provision of office facilities and related clerical and administrative services. Columbia Management Advisors, LLC (CMA) is the Fund’s sub-administrator (Sub-Administrator).

The Fund pays the Administrator a fee for its services, plus certain out-of-pocket expenses. The fee is calculated as an annual percentage of the Trust’s average daily net assets and is paid monthly, as follows:

Shares of the Fund are distributed by the Distributor, which is located at One Financial Center, Boston, MA 02111. The Distributor is a registered broker/dealer and an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America. The Distributor and its affiliates may pay commissions, distribution and service fees and/or other compensation to entities, including Bank of America affiliates, for selling shares and providing services to investors.

The Transfer Agent is a registered transfer agent and an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America. The Transfer Agent is located at One Financial Center, Boston, MA 02111, and its responsibilities include processing purchases, sales and exchanges, calculating and paying distributions, keeping shareholder records, preparing account statements and providing customer service. The Fund pays the Transfer Agent monthly fees on a per-account basis. The Transfer Agent has engaged Boston Financial Data Services (BFDS) as the Fund’s sub-transfer agent to provide various services. Fees paid to the Transfer Agent include reimbursements for certain out-of-pocket expenses and sub-transfer agency fees, subject to certain limitations, paid by the Transfer Agent on the Fund’s behalf.

Other Roles and Relationships of Bank of America and its Affiliates—Certain Conflicts of Interest

As described in Management of the Fund – Primary Service Providers, the Advisor, Administrator, Distributor and Transfer Agent, all affiliates of Bank of America, provide various services to the Fund for which they are compensated. Bank of America and its affiliates may also provide other services to the Fund and be compensated for them.

The Advisor and its affiliates may provide investment advisory and other services to other clients and customers substantially similar to those provided to the Fund. These activities, and other financial services activities of Bank of America and its affiliates, may present actual and potential conflicts of interest and introduce certain investment constraints.

Bank of America is a major financial services company, engaged in a broad range of financial activities beyond the mutual fund-related activities of the Advisor, including, among others, commercial banking, investment banking, broker/dealer (sales and trading), asset management, insurance and other financial activities. These additional activities may involve multiple advisory, transactional, lending, financial and other interests in securities and other instruments, and in companies that issue securities and other instruments, which may be bought, sold or held by the Fund.

Conflicts of interest and limitations that could affect the Fund may arise from, for example, the following:

Bank of America and its affiliates also provide a variety of products and services that, in some manner, may use the Fund and other Columbia Funds as investment options. For example:

The use of the Columbia Funds as investment options in connection with other products and services offered by Bank of America and its affiliates may introduce economic and other conflicts of interest of which you should be aware. These types of conflicts of interest are highlighted in sections of account documentation and other disclosure materials relating to these products and services, as well as in the SAI.

The Advisor and Bank of America have adopted various policies and procedures that are intended to identify, monitor and address conflicts of interest. However, there is no absolute assurance that these policies, procedures and disclosures will be effective.

Additional information about Bank of America and the types of conflicts of interest and other matters referenced above is set forth in the Investment Advisory and Other Services – Other Roles and Relationships of Bank of America and Affiliates – Certain Conflicts of Interest section of the SAI, which is identified by the icon. Investors in the Fund should carefully review these disclosures and consult with their financial advisor if they have any questions.

Columbia Wanger Asset Management, L.P. (CWAM), Columbia Acorn Trust (another mutual fund family advised by CWAM), and the trustees of Columbia Acorn Trust (collectively, the “Columbia defendants”) were named as defendants in class and derivative complaints that were consolidated in a Multi-District Action (the “MDL Action”) in the federal district court of Maryland. These lawsuits contend that defendants permitted certain investors to market time their trades in certain Columbia Acorn Funds. The MDL Action is ongoing. However, all claims against Columbia Acorn Trust and the independent trustees of Columbia Acorn Trust have been dismissed.

Columbia Acorn Trust and CWAM are also defendants in a state court class action lawsuit that alleges, in summary, that Columbia Acorn Trust and CWAM exposed shareholders of Columbia Acorn International to trading by market timers by allegedly: (a) failing to properly evaluate daily whether a significant event affecting the value of the fund’s securities had occurred after foreign markets had closed but before the calculation of the fund’s net asset value (“NAV”); (b) failing to implement the fund’s portfolio valuation and share pricing policies and procedures; and (c) failing to know and implement applicable rules and regulations concerning the calculation of NAV (the “Fair Valuation Lawsuit”). The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the plaintiffs’ state law claims were preempted under federal law, resulting in the dismissal of plaintiffs’ complaint. Plaintiffs appealed the Seventh Circuit’s ruling to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court reversed the Seventh Circuit’s ruling on jurisdictional grounds and the case was remanded to the state court.

On March 21, 2005, a class action complaint was filed against Columbia Acorn Trust and CWAM seeking to rescind the CDSC assessed upon redemption of Class B shares of the Columbia Acorn Funds (the “CDSC Lawsuit”). In addition to the rescission of sales charges, plaintiffs seek recovery of actual damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. The case has been transferred to the MDL Action in the federal district court of Maryland.

On September 14, 2007, the plaintiffs and the Columbia defendants named in the MDL Action, including the Columbia Funds, entered into a stipulation of settlement with respect to all Columbia-related claims in the MDL Action described above, including the CDSC and Fair Valuation Lawsuits. The settlement is subject to court approval.

Columbia Acorn Trust and CWAM intend to defend these suits vigorously. CWAM believes that the lawsuits are not likely to materially affect its ability to provide investment management services to the Fund.

The following summarizes the primary features of the shares offered by the Fund.

The terms “selling agent” and “servicing agent” refer to the financial intermediary that employs your financial advisor. Selling and/or servicing agents include, for example, brokerage firms, banks, investment advisors, third party administrators and other financial intermediaries, including affiliates of Bank of America, such as Banc of America Investment Services, Inc.

The Distributor and the Advisor make payments, from their own resources, to certain financial intermediaries, including other Bank of America affiliates, for marketing/sales support services relating to the Columbia Funds (including the Columbia Wanger Funds). Such payments are generally based upon one or more of the following factors: average net assets of the Columbia Funds sold by the Distributor attributable to that intermediary, gross sales of the Columbia Funds distributed by the Distributor attributable to that intermediary, reimbursement of ticket charges (fees that an intermediary firm charges its representatives for effecting transactions in Fund shares) or a negotiated lump sum payment. While the financial arrangements may vary for each intermediary, the support payments to any one intermediary are generally between 0.10% and 0.50% on an annual basis for payments based on average net assets of the Fund attributable to the intermediary.

The Distributor and the Advisor may make payments in larger amounts or on a basis other than those described above when dealing with other affiliates of Bank of America. Such increased payments to the other Bank of America affiliate may enable the other Bank of America affiliate to offset credits that it may provide to customers in order to avoid having such customers pay fees to multiple Bank of America entities in connection with the customers’ investments in the Fund.

Amounts paid by the Distributor and the Advisor are paid out of the Distributor’s and the Advisor’s own resources and do not increase the amount paid by you or the Fund. You can find further details about the payments made by the Distributor and the Advisor and the services provided by financial intermediaries as well as a list of the intermediaries to which the Distributor and the Advisor have agreed to make marketing support payments in the SAI. Your financial intermediary may charge you fees and commissions in addition to those described in this prospectus. You should consult with your financial intermediary and review carefully any disclosure your financial intermediary provides regarding its services and compensation. Depending on the financial arrangement in place at any particular time, a financial intermediary and its financial consultants may have a financial incentive for recommending the Fund or a particular share class over others. See Management of the Fund - Other Roles and Relationships of Bank of America and its Affiliates - Certain Conflicts of Interest for more information.

The price you pay or receive when you buy, sell or transfer shares is the Fund’s next determined net asset value (or NAV) per share. The Fund calculates the net asset value per share for the Fund at the end of each business day.

The value of the Fund’s shares is based on the total market value of all of the securities and other assets that it holds as of a specified time. The prices reported on stock exchanges and other securities markets around the world are usually used to value securities in the Fund. The Fund uses the amortized cost method, which approximates market value, to value short-term investments maturing in 60 days or less.

If a market price isn’t readily available, the Fund will determine the price of the security held by the Fund based on the Advisor’s determination of the security’s fair value. A market price is considered not readily available if, among other circumstances, the most recent reported price is deemed unreliable. In addition, the Fund may use fair valuation to price securities that trade on a foreign exchange when a significant event has occurred after the foreign exchange closes but before the time at which the Fund’s share price is calculated. Foreign exchanges typically close before the time at which Fund share prices are calculated, and may be closed altogether on some days when the Fund is open. Such significant events affecting a foreign security may include, but are not limited to: (1) those impacting a single issuer; (2) governmental action that affects securities in one sector or country; (3) natural disasters or armed conflicts affecting a country or region; or (4) significant domestic or foreign market fluctuations. The Fund uses various criteria, including an evaluation of U.S. market moves after the close of foreign markets, in determining whether a security’s market price is readily available and, if not, the fair value of the security.

Fair valuation may have the effect of reducing stale pricing arbitrage opportunities presented by the pricing of Fund shares. However, when the Fund uses fair valuation to price securities, it may value those securities higher or lower than another mutual fund. Also, the use of fair valuation may cause the Fund’s performance to diverge to a greater degree from the performance of various benchmarks used to compare the Fund’s performance because benchmarks generally do not use fair valuation techniques. Because of the judgment involved in fair valuation decisions, there can be no assurance that the value ascribed to a particular security is accurate. The Fund has retained an independent fair valuation pricing service that employs a systematic methodology to assist in the fair valuation process for foreign securities. International markets are sometimes open on days when U.S. markets are closed, which means that the value of foreign securities owned by the Fund could change on days when Fund shares cannot be bought or sold.

The Fund and the other Columbia Wanger Funds are available to owners of variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies issued by participating insurance companies and participants in Retirement Plans, as described below. Please refer to the prospectus that describes your annuity contract and/or life insurance policy or the documents that describe your Retirement Plan for information about how to buy, sell and transfer your investment among shares of the Columbia Wanger Funds.

A Retirement Plan must be established before shares of the Fund can be purchased by the Retirement Plan. Neither the Fund nor the Advisor offers prototypes of such Plans. The Fund has imposed certain additional restrictions on sales to Retirement Plans to reduce Fund expenses. To be eligible to invest in the Fund, a Retirement Plan must be domiciled in a state in which Fund shares may be sold without payment of a fee to the state. In most states, this policy will require that a Retirement Plan investing in the Fund have at least $5 million in assets and that its investment decisions be made by the Retirement Plan fiduciary rather than Retirement Plan participants. A Retirement Plan may call the Advisor at 888.4.WANGER (888.492.6437) to determine if it is eligible to invest in the Fund.

Shares of the Fund may not be purchased or sold directly by individual owners of variable annuity contracts, variable life insurance policies and/or Retirement Plan participants. When you sell your shares through your variable annuity contract, variable life insurance policy and/or Retirement Plan, the Fund is effectively buying them back from you. This is called a redemption. The right of redemption may be suspended or payment postponed whenever permitted by applicable laws and regulations.

During any 90-day period, for any one shareholder, the Fund is obligated to redeem shares solely in cash up to the lesser of $250,000 or 1% of the Fund’s net assets. Redemptions in excess of these limits will normally be paid in cash, but may be paid wholly or partly by an in-kind distribution of securities.

Orders to buy and sell shares of the Fund that are placed by your participating insurance company or Retirement Plan are processed on business days. Orders received in good form by the Transfer Agent or a selling and/or servicing agent, including your participating insurance company or Retirement Plan, before the end of a business day will receive that day’s net asset value per share. Orders received after the end of a business day will receive the next business day’s net asset value per share. The market value of the Fund’s investments may change between the time you submit your order and the time the Fund next calculates its net asset value per share. The business day that applies to an order is also called a trade date.

The timing and magnitude of cash inflows from investors buying Fund shares could prevent the Fund from always being fully invested. Conversely, the timing and magnitude of cash outflows to investors selling Fund shares could require large ready reserves of uninvested cash to meet shareholder redemptions. Either situation could adversely impact the Fund’s performance.

A business day is any day that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is open. A business day ends at the close of regular trading on the NYSE, usually at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. If the NYSE closes early, the business day ends as of the time the NYSE closes. On holidays and other days when the NYSE is closed, the Fund’s net asset value is not calculated and the Fund does not accept buy or sell orders. However, the value of the Fund’s assets may still be affected on such days to the extent that the Fund holds foreign securities that trade on days that foreign markets are open.

As required by Rule 22c-2 under the 1940 Act, the Columbia Funds, including the Columbia Wanger Funds, or certain of their service providers will enter into information sharing agreements with financial intermediaries, including participating insurance companies and financial intermediaries that sponsor or offer retirement plans through which shares of the Columbia Funds are made available for purchase. Pursuant to Rule 22c-2, financial intermediaries are required, upon request, to: (i) provide shareholder account and transaction information and (ii) execute instructions from the Fund to restrict or prohibit further purchases of Fund shares by shareholders who have been identified by the Fund as having engaged in transactions that violate the Fund’s excessive trading policies and procedures. See Buying, Selling and Transferring Shares – Excessive Trading Practices for more information.

Right to Reject or Restrict Share Transaction Orders – The Fund is intended for investors with long-term investment purposes and is not intended as a vehicle for frequent trading activity (market timing) that is excessive. Investors should transact in Fund shares primarily for investment purposes. The Board has adopted excessive trading policies and procedures that are designed to deter excessive trading by investors (the Excessive Trading Policies and Procedures). The Fund discourages and does not accommodate excessive trading.

The Fund reserves the right to reject, without any prior notice, any buy or transfer order for any reason, and will not be liable for any loss resulting from rejected orders. For example, the Fund may in its discretion restrict or reject a buy or transfer order even if the transaction is not subject to the specific transfer limitation described below if the Fund or its agents determine that accepting the order could interfere with efficient management of the Fund’s portfolio or is otherwise contrary to the Fund’s best interests. The Excessive Trading Policies and Procedures apply equally to buy or transfer transactions communicated directly to the Transfer Agent and to those received by selling and/or servicing agents.

Specific Buying and Transferring Limitations – If the Fund detects that an investor has made two “material round trips” in any 28-day period, it will generally reject the investor’s future buy orders, including transfer buy orders, involving any Columbia Fund.

For these purposes, a “round trip” is a purchase or transfer into the Fund followed by a sale or transfer out of the Fund. A “material” round trip is one that is deemed by the Fund to be material in terms of its amount or its potential detrimental impact on the Fund. Independent of this limit, the Fund may, in its discretion, reject future buy orders by any person, group or account that appears to have engaged in any type of excessive trading activity.

These limits generally do not apply to automated transactions or transactions by registered investment companies that invest in the Fund using a “fund of funds” structure. These limits do not apply to payroll deduction contributions by retirement plan participants, transactions initiated by a retirement plan sponsor or certain other retirement plan transactions consisting of rollover transactions, loan repayments and disbursements, and required minimum distribution redemptions. They may be modified or rescinded for accounts held by certain retirement plans to conform to plan limits, for considerations relating to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or regulations of the Department of Labor, and for certain asset allocation or wrap programs. Accounts known to be under common ownership or control generally will be counted together, but accounts maintained or managed by a common intermediary generally will not be considered to be under common ownership or control. The Fund retains the right to modify these restrictions at any time without prior notice to shareholders.

Limitations on the Ability to Detect and Prevent Excessive Trading Practices – The Fund takes various steps designed to detect and prevent excessive trading, including daily review of available shareholder transaction information. However, the Fund receives buy, sell and transfer orders through financial intermediaries, and cannot always know or reasonably detect excessive trading that may be facilitated by financial intermediaries or by the use of the omnibus account arrangements they offer. Omnibus account arrangements are common forms of holding shares of mutual funds, particularly among certain financial intermediaries such as broker/ dealers, retirement plans and variable insurance products. These arrangements often permit financial intermediaries to aggregate their clients’ transactions and accounts, and in these circumstances, the identity of the shareholders is often not known.

Some financial intermediaries apply their own restrictions or policies to underlying investor accounts, which may be more or less restrictive than those described here. This may impact the Fund’s ability to curtail excessive trading, even where it is identified. For these and other reasons, it is possible that excessive trading may occur despite the Fund’s efforts to detect and prevent it.

Although these restrictions and policies involve judgments that are inherently subjective and may involve some selectivity in their application, the Fund seeks to act in a manner that it believes is consistent with the best interests of shareholders in making any such judgments.

Risks of Excessive Trading – Excessive trading creates certain risks to the Fund’s long-term shareholders and may create the following adverse effects:

To the extent that the Fund invests significantly in foreign securities traded on markets that close before the Fund’s valuation time, it may be particularly susceptible to dilution as a result of excessive trading. Because events may occur after the close of foreign markets and before the Fund’s valuation time that influence the value of foreign securities, investors may seek to trade Fund shares in an effort to benefit from their understanding of the value of foreign securities as of the Fund’s valuation time. This is often referred to as price arbitrage. The Fund has adopted procedures designed to adjust closing market prices of foreign securities under certain circumstances to reflect what the Fund believes to be the fair value of those securities as of its valuation time. To the extent the adjustments don’t work fully, investors engaging in price arbitrage may cause dilution in the value of the Fund’s shares held by other shareholders.

Similarly, to the extent that the Fund invests significantly in equity securities of small-capitalization companies, because these securities are often traded infrequently, investors may seek to trade their shares in an effort to benefit from their understanding of the value of these securities. This is also a type of price arbitrage. Any such frequent trading strategies may interfere with efficient management of the Fund’s portfolio to a greater degree than would be the case for mutual funds that invest in highly liquid securities, in part because the Fund may have difficulty selling those portfolio securities at advantageous times or prices to satisfy large and/or frequent sell orders. Any successful price arbitrage may also cause dilution in the value of Fund shares held by other shareholders.

Mutual funds make payments of fund earnings to shareholders, distributing them among all shareholders of the fund. As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s distributed income, including capital gains.

Reinvesting your distributions buys you more shares of a fund – which lets you take advantage of the potential for compound growth. Putting the money you earn back into your investment means it, in turn, may earn even more money. Over time, the power of compounding has the potential to significantly increase the value of your investment. There is no assurance, however, that you’ll earn more money if you reinvest your distributions rather than receive them in cash.

The Fund intends to pay out, in the form of distributions to shareholders, a sufficient amount of its income and gains so that the Fund will qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company and generally will not have to pay any federal excise tax. The Fund generally intends to distribute any net realized capital gain (whether long-term or short-term gain) at least once a year. Normally, the Fund will declare and pay distributions of net investment income according to the following schedule:

The Fund may, however, declare and pay distributions of net investment income more frequently.

Each time a distribution is made, the net asset value per share of the Fund is reduced by the amount of the distribution.

The Fund will automatically reinvest distributions in additional shares of the Fund unless you inform us you want your distributions to be paid in cash.

The Fund intends to qualify each year as a regulated investment company. A regulated investment company generally is not subject to tax at the fund level on income and gains from investments that are distributed to shareholders. However, the Fund’s failure to qualify as a regulated investment company would result in fund level taxation, and consequently, a reduction in income available for distribution to you.

Shares of the Fund are offered to you only through a variable annuity contract and/or variable life insurance policy of a participating insurance company or through a Retirement Plan. You should review the prospectus and other information provided to you by your participating insurance company or Retirement Plan administrator regarding the federal income taxation of your variable annuity contract and/or variable life insurance policy or Retirement Plan.

If you own a variable annuity contract or variable life insurance policy, as discussed in the prospectus for your contract or policy, your contract or policy may qualify for favorable tax treatment. As long as your variable annuity contract or variable life insurance policy continues to qualify for favorable tax treatment, you will only be taxed on your investment in the Fund through such contract or policy, even if the Fund makes distributions and/or you change your investment options under the contract or policy. In order to qualify for such treatment, among other things, the “separate accounts” of participating insurance companies, which maintain and invest net proceeds from the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies, must be “adequately diversified.” The Fund intends to operate in such a manner so that a separate account investing only in Fund shares on behalf of a holder of a variable annuity contract or variable life insurance policy will be “adequately diversified.” If the Fund does not meet such requirements, income and gain allocable to your contract or policy will be taxable currently to you.

In addition, if holders have an impermissible level of control over the investments underlying their contracts or policies, the advantageous tax treatment under the Code to separate accounts of participating insurance companies will no longer be available. Please see the SAI for more information regarding tax treatment of the Fund.

The information provided above is only a summary of how U.S. federal income taxes may affect your investment in the Fund. It is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Your investment in the Fund may have other tax implications.

It does not apply to certain types of investors who may be subject to special rules, including foreign or tax-exempt investors.

You should consult with your own tax advisor about the particular tax consequences to you of an investment in the Fund, including the effect of any foreign, state and local taxes, and the effect of possible changes in applicable tax laws.

The financial highlights table is designed to help you understand how the Fund has performed for the past five full fiscal years. Certain information reflects financial results for a single Fund share. The total return line indicates how much an investment in the Fund would have earned each period assuming all dividends and distributions had been reinvested. The total return line does not reflect fees and expenses, if any, imposed under your variable annuity contract, variable life insurance policy and/or Retirement Plan which, if reflected, would reduce the total returns for all periods shown.

This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm whose report, along with the Fund’s financial statements, is included in the Fund’s annual report. The independent registered public accounting firm’s report and the Fund’s financial statements are also incorporated by reference into the SAI. You can request a free annual report containing those financial statements by calling 888.4.WANGER (888.492.6437).

The following supplemental hypothetical investment information provides additional information about the effect of the fees and expenses of the Fund, including investment advisory fees and other Fund costs, on the Fund’s returns over a 10-year period. The chart shows the estimated fees and expenses that would be charged on a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in the Fund, assuming a 5% return each year, the cumulative return after fees and expenses and the hypothetical year-end balance after fees and expenses. The chart also assumes that all dividends and distributions are reinvested. The table does not reflect fees and expenses, if any, imposed under your variable annuity contract, variable life insurance policy and/or Retirement Plan. If the table reflected these fees and expenses, the “Hypothetical Year-End Balance After Fees and Expenses” amounts shown would be lower and the “Annual Fees and Expenses” amounts shown would be higher. The annual expense ratio used for the Fund, which is the same as that stated in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses table, is presented in the chart and is net of any contractual fee waivers or expense reimbursements for the period of contractual commitment. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.

The Columbia Wanger Funds are available only to the owners of variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies issued by participating insurance companies and participants in Retirement Plans. Please refer to the prospectus that describes your annuity contract and/or life insurance policy or the documents that describe your Retirement Plan for information about how to buy, sell and transfer your investment among shares of the Columbia Wanger Funds in the documents described below. Contact the Advisor as follows to obtain these documents free of charge:

Additional information about the Fund’s investments is available in the Fund’s annual and semi-annual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund’s performance during its last fiscal year.

The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund and its policies. The SAI is legally part of this prospectus (incorporated by reference). A copy has been filed with the SEC. Because the Columbia Wanger Funds are available only to the owners of variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies issued by participating insurance companies and participants in Retirement Plans, the SAI and shareholder reports are not available online.

The Fund’s Board of Trustees has adopted procedures by which shareholders may communicate with the Board. Shareholders who wish to communicate with the Board should send their written communications to the Board by mail, c/o Columbia Wanger Asset Management, L.P., 227 West Monroe Street, Suite 3000, Chicago, IL 60606, Attention: Secretary. Shareholder communications must (i) be in writing, (ii) identify the Columbia Wanger Fund to which the communication relates and (iii) state the particular class of shares and number of shares held by the communicating shareholder.

You can review and copy information about the Fund (including this prospectus, the SAI and shareholder reports) at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, DC. To find out more about the operation of the Public Reference Room, call the SEC at 202.551.8090 or 800.SEC.0330. Reports and other information about the Fund are also available in the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. You can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov or by writing the Public Reference Section, Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, DC 20549-0102.

For purposes of any electronic version of this prospectus, all references to websites, or universal resource locators (URLs), are intended to be inactive and are not meant to incorporate the contents of any website into this prospectus.

The investment company registration number of Wanger Advisors Trust, of which the Fund is a series, is 811-08748.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

This prospectus tells you about Wanger International (the Fund), which is one of the international/global equity funds in the Columbia Funds family of mutual funds (Columbia Funds). It is designed to provide you with important information about the Fund in a concise and easy to understand manner that is meant to help you make informed investment decisions.

We have included a number of features designed to facilitate your use of this prospectus, including:

The SEC provides a “Beginners’ Guide to Mutual Funds” which may be useful to some investors and is available online, free of charge, at www.sec.gov.

The Fund, like all mutual funds, is designed to be a part of a broad and diversified investment portfolio and is not intended to fulfill all of your investment needs.

You should consider the objectives, risks and expenses of the Fund and any other Columbia Fund, including the Columbia Wanger Funds, carefully before investing.

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 65% of its net assets in foreign companies in developed markets (for example, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom) and in emerging markets (for example, China, India and Brazil).

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests a majority of its net assets in small- and mid-sized companies with market capitalizations under $5 billion at the time of investment. However, if the Fund’s investments in such companies represent less than a majority of its net assets, the Fund may continue to hold and to make additional investments in an existing company in its portfolio even if that company’s capitalization has grown to exceed $5 billion. Except as noted above, under normal circumstances, the Fund may invest in other companies with market capitalizations above $5 billion, provided that immediately after that investment a majority of its net assets would be invested in companies with market capitalizations under $5 billion.

The Advisor believes that stocks of companies with market capitalizations under $5 billion, which generally are not as well known by financial analysts as larger companies, may offer higher return potential than stocks of larger companies.

The table compares the Fund’s returns for each period with those of the S&P Global Ex-U.S. Between $500 Million and $5 Billion^® Index, the Fund’s primary benchmark, the S&P Global Ex-U.S. SmallCap^® Index, the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia, Far East (MSCI EAFE) Index and the Lipper Variable Underlying International Core Funds Index. The S&P Global Ex-U.S. Between $500 Million and $5 Billion^® Index is a subset of the broad market selected by the index sponsor representing the mid- and small-cap developed and emerging markets, excluding the United States. The S&P Global Ex-U.S. SmallCap^® Index is an unmanaged index consisting of the bottom 20% of institutionally investable capital of developed and emerging countries, outside the United States. The MSCI EAFE Index is a capitalization-weighted index that tracks the total return of common stocks in 21 developed-market countries within Europe, Australasia and the Far East. The Lipper Variable Underlying International Core Funds Index is an equally weighted representation of the 30 largest variable insurance underlying funds in the Lipper Variable Underlying International Growth Funds Classification. Indices are not available for investment, and do not reflect sales charges, fees, brokerage commissions, taxes or other expenses of investing.

The example illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over the time periods indicated, and assumes that:

For more detailed information about the Board of Trustees, please refer to the SAI.

The Fund pays the Advisor a fee for its investment advisory services. The fee is calculated as a percentage of the average daily net assets of the Fund and is paid monthly. For the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, aggregate advisory fees paid to the Advisor by the Fund amounted to 0.84% of average daily net assets of the Fund. See the Fund’s fee and expense table for details regarding the current advisory fee.

Information about the Advisor’s portfolio managers who are primarily responsible for overseeing the Fund’s investments is shown in the table below. The SAI provides more information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts managed by each portfolio manager and each portfolio manager’s ownership of securities in the Fund.

Portfolio Manager and Analyst of the Advisor; associated with the Advisor or its predecessors as an investment professional since 2001. Vice President of the Trust since 2005.

Portfolio Manager and Analyst of the Advisor; associated with the Advisor or its predecessors as an investment professional since 2001. Vice President of the Trust since 2001.

Other Roles and Relationships of Bank of America and its Affiliates—Certain Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest and limitations that could affect the Fund may arise from, for example, the following:

Bank of America and its affiliates also provide a variety of products and services that, in some manner, may use the Fund and other Columbia Funds as investment options. For example:

The following summarizes the primary features of the shares offered by the Fund.

Amounts paid by the Distributor and the Advisor are paid out of the Distributor’s and the Advisor’s own resources and do not increase the amount paid by you or the Fund. You can find further details about the payments made by the Distributor and the Advisor and the services provided by financial intermediaries as well as a list of the intermediaries to which the Distributor and the Advisor have agreed to make marketing support payments in the SAI. Your financial intermediary may charge you fees and commissions in addition to those described in this prospectus. You should consult with your financial intermediary and review carefully any disclosure your financial intermediary provides regarding its services and compensation. Depending on the financial arrangement in place at any particular time, a financial intermediary and its financial consultants may have a financial incentive for recommending the Fund or a particular share class over others. See Management of the Fund – Other Roles and Relationships of Bank of America and its Affiliates – Certain Conflicts of Interest for more information.

As required by Rule 22c-2 under the 1940 Act, the Columbia Funds, including the Columbia Wanger Funds, or certain of their service providers will enter into information sharing agreements with financial intermediaries, including participating insurance companies and financial intermediaries that sponsor or offer retirement plans through which shares of the Columbia Funds are made available for purchase. Pursuant to Rule 22c-2, financial intermediaries are required, upon request, to: (i) provide shareholder account and transaction information and (ii) execute instructions from the Fund to restrict or prohibit further purchases of Fund shares by shareholders who have been identified by the Fund as having engaged in transactions that violate the Fund’s excessive trading policies and procedures. See Buying, Selling and Transferring Shares – Excessive Trading Practices for more information.

Risks of Excessive Trading – Excessive trading creates certain risks to the Fund’s long-term shareholders and may create the following adverse effects:

The Fund may, however, declare and pay distributions of net investment income more frequently.

Each time a distribution is made, the net asset value per share of the Fund is reduced by the amount of the distribution.

The Fund will automatically reinvest distributions in additional shares of the Fund unless you inform us you want your distributions to be paid in cash.

It does not apply to certain types of investors who may be subject to special rules, including foreign or tax-exempt investors.

The investment company registration number of Wanger Advisors Trust, of which the Fund is a series, is 811-08748.

This prospectus tells you about Wanger Select (the Fund), which is one of the equity funds in the Columbia Funds family of mutual funds (Columbia Funds). It is designed to provide you with important information about the Fund in a concise and easy to understand manner that is meant to help you make informed investment decisions.

We have included a number of features designed to facilitate your use of this prospectus, including:

The SEC provides a “Beginners’ Guide to Mutual Funds” which may be useful to some investors and is available online, free of charge, at www.sec.gov.

The Fund, like all mutual funds, is designed to be a part of a broad and diversified investment portfolio and is not intended to fulfill all of your investment needs.

You should consider the objectives, risks and expenses of the Fund and any other Columbia Fund, including the Columbia Wanger Funds, carefully before investing.

Equity funds invest primarily in equity securities of companies that have the potential to provide you with higher returns than many other kinds of investments, but they also tend to have higher risk.

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests a majority of its net assets in companies with market capitalizations under $20 billion at the time of investment. However, if the Fund’s investments in such companies represent less than a majority of its net assets, the Fund may continue to hold and to make additional investments in an existing company in its portfolio even if that company’s capitalization has grown to exceed $20 billion. Except as noted above, under normal circumstances, the Fund may invest in other companies with market capitalizations above $20 billion, provided that immediately after that investment a majority of its net assets would be invested in companies with market capitalizations under $20 billion.

The Advisor believes that stocks of companies with market capitalizations under $20 billion, which generally are not as well known by financial analysts as larger companies, may offer higher return potential than stocks of larger companies.

The Fund invests the majority of its assets in U.S. companies, but also may invest up to 33% of its total assets in foreign companies in developed markets (for example, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom) and in emerging markets (for example, China, India and Brazil).

The Fund takes advantage of the Advisor’s research and stock-picking capabilities to invest in a limited number of companies (generally between 30-60), offering the potential to provide above-average growth over time. The Fund is non-diversified, which means that it can invest a greater percentage of its assets in a single issuer than can a diversified fund.

The Advisor may sell a portfolio holding if the security reaches the Advisor’s price target, if the company has a deterioration

of fundamentals, such as failing to meet key operating benchmarks or if the Advisor believes other securities are more attractive. The Advisor also may sell a portfolio holding to fund redemptions.

Smaller company funds invest in smaller companies with potentially promising products or that are operating in potentially dynamic fields. These companies may experience relatively more rapid earnings growth than larger companies but may have a relatively greater difficulty securing financing and may be relatively more prone to setbacks than larger, more established companies.

The table compares the Fund’s returns for each period with those of the S&P MidCap 400^® Index, the Fund’s primary benchmark, the S&P 500^® Index and the Lipper Variable Underlying Mid-Cap Growth Funds Index. The S&P MidCap 400^® Index is a market value-weighted index that tracks the performance of 400 mid-cap U.S. companies. The S&P 500^® Index tracks the performance of 500 widely held, large-capitalization U.S. stocks. The Lipper Variable Underlying Mid-Cap Growth Funds Index is an equally weighted representation of the 30 largest variable insurance underlying funds in the Lipper Variable Underlying Mid-Cap Growth Funds Classification. Indices are not available for investment, and do not reflect sales charges, fees, brokerage commissions, taxes or other expenses of investing.

The example illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over the time periods indicated, and assumes that:

For more detailed information about the Board of Trustees, please refer to the SAI.

The Fund pays the Advisor a fee for its investment advisory services. The fee is calculated as a percentage of the average daily net assets of the Fund and is paid monthly. For the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, aggregate advisory fees paid to the Advisor by the Fund amounted to 0.80% of average daily net assets of the Fund. See the Fund’s fee and expense table for details regarding the current advisory fee.

Portfolio Manager and Analyst of the Advisor; associated with the Advisor or its predecessors as an investment professional since 1998. Vice President of the Trust since 2004.

Other Roles and Relationships of Bank of America and its Affiliates—Certain Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest and limitations that could affect the Fund may arise from, for example, the following:

Bank of America and its affiliates also provide a variety of products and services that, in some manner, may use the Fund and other Columbia Funds as investment options. For example:

The following summarizes the primary features of the shares offered by the Fund.

Amounts paid by the Distributor and the Advisor are paid out of the Distributor’s and the Advisor’s own resources and do not increase the amount paid by you or the Fund. You can find further details about the payments made by the Distributor and the Advisor and the services provided by financial intermediaries as well as a list of the intermediaries to which the Distributor and the Advisor have agreed to make marketing support payments in the SAI. Your financial intermediary may charge you fees and commissions in addition to those described in this prospectus. You should consult with your financial intermediary and review carefully any disclosure your financial intermediary provides regarding its services and compensation. Depending on the financial arrangement in place at any particular time, a financial intermediary and its financial consultants may have a financial incentive for recommending the Fund or a particular share class over others. See Management of the Fund – Other Roles and Relationships of Bank of America and its Affiliates – Certain Conflicts of Interest for more information.

As required by Rule 22c-2 under the 1940 Act, the Columbia Funds, including the Columbia Wanger Funds, or certain of their service providers will enter into information sharing agreements with financial intermediaries, including participating insurance companies and financial intermediaries that sponsor or offer retirement plans through which shares of the Columbia Funds are made available for purchase. Pursuant to Rule 22c-2, financial intermediaries are required, upon request, to: (i) provide shareholder account and transaction information and (ii) execute instructions from the Fund to restrict or prohibit further purchases of Fund shares by shareholders who have been identified by the Fund as having engaged in transactions that violate the Fund’s excessive trading policies and procedures. See Buying, Selling and Transferring Shares – Excessive Trading Practices for more information.

Risks of Excessive Trading – Excessive trading creates certain risks to the Fund’s long-term shareholders and may create the following adverse effects:

The Fund may, however, declare and pay distributions of net investment income more frequently.

Each time a distribution is made, the net asset value per share of the Fund is reduced by the amount of the distribution.

The Fund will automatically reinvest distributions in additional shares of the same share class of the Fund unless you inform us you want your distributions to be paid in cash.

It does not apply to certain types of investors who may be subject to special rules, including foreign or tax-exempt investors.

The investment company registration number of Wanger Advisors Trust, of which the Fund is a series, is 811-08748.

This prospectus tells you about Wanger USA (the Fund), which is one of the equity funds in the Columbia Funds family of mutual funds (Columbia Funds). It is designed to provide you with important information about the Fund in a concise and easy to understand manner that is meant to help you make informed investment decisions.

We have included a number of features designed to facilitate your use of this prospectus, including:

The SEC provides a “Beginners’ Guide to Mutual Funds” which may be useful to some investors and is available online, free of charge, at www.sec.gov.

The Fund, like all mutual funds, is designed to be a part of a broad and diversified investment portfolio and is not intended to fulfill all of your investment needs.

You should consider the objectives, risks and expenses of the Fund and any other Columbia Fund, including the Columbia Wanger Funds, carefully before investing.

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in U.S. companies.

The table compares the Fund’s returns for each period with those of the Russell 2000 Index, the Fund’s primary benchmark, and the Lipper Variable Underlying Small-Cap Growth Funds Index. The Russell 2000 Index measures the performance of the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index, which represents approximately 8% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 Index. The Lipper Variable Underlying Small-Cap Growth Funds Index is an equally weighted representation of the 30 largest variable insurance underlying funds in the Lipper Variable Underlying Small-Cap Growth Funds Classification. Indices are not available for investment, and do not reflect sales charges, fees, brokerage commissions, taxes or other expenses of investing.

The example illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over the time periods indicated, and assumes that:

For more detailed information about the Board of Trustees, please refer to the SAI.

The Fund pays the Advisor a fee for its investment advisory services. The fee is calculated as a percentage of the average daily net assets of the Fund and is paid monthly. For the Fund’s most recent fiscal year, aggregate advisory fees paid to the Advisor by the Fund amounted to 0.85% of average daily net assets of the Fund. See the Fund’s fee and expense table for details regarding the current advisory fee.

Portfolio Manager and Director of Domestic Research of the Advisor; associated with the Advisor or its predecessors as an investment professional since 1992. Vice President of the Trust since 1997.

Other Roles and Relationships of Bank of America and its Affiliates—Certain Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest and limitations that could affect the Fund may arise from, for example, the following:

Bank of America and its affiliates also provide a variety of products and services that, in some manner, may use the Fund and other Columbia Funds as investment options. For example: