Ameriprise Continues Tilt Away From Guarantee Risk

More sales involved variable annuity contracts without living benefits guarantee features.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. is still adjusting its sails for the low-interest-rate winds.

The Minneapolis-based financial services company said Tuesday that it continues to shift toward selling more variable universal life insurance and variable annuities without living benefits guarantees. It’s moving away from guarantee-heavy products such as indexed universal life and variable annuities with living benefits guarantees.

The company reported $591 million in net income for the second quarter on $3.4 billion in revenue, compared with a $539 million net loss on $2.7 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2020.

Variable annuities without living benefits accounted for 66% of the company’s variable annuity sales, up from 64% in the first quarter.

Sales of variable universal life products with higher margins fell, and sales of indexed universal life products fell, the company said.

The Retirement & Protection Solutions unit recorded $182 million in pretax adjusted operating income on $808 million in revenue, compared with $222 million in operating earnings on $755 million in revenue for the year-earlier quarter.

Sales of variable annuities and other retirement products increased 88%, to $1.6 billion, the company said.

The second quarter ended June 30.

Ameriprise headquarters in Minneapolis. (Photo: Ariana Lindquist/Bloomberg)