Ameriprise CEO Says Advisor Recruiting Market Is 'Frothy'; New Products on the Way

News October 28, 2024 at 01:23 PM
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What You Need To Know

  • There's an opportunity for Ameriprise's Columbia Threadneedle Investments arm to develop solutions for the wealth advisor business, CEO Jim Cracchiolo says.
  • He says firms are overpaying for advisor acquisitions and expects payouts to fall.
  • Ameriprise is now making fewer, but larger, deals, he says.
James Cracchiolo. (Photo: Ameriprise)

Ameriprise Financial wants its asset management team to come up with new products for members of its Advice Wealth Management team to sell.

Jim Cracchiolo, the Minneapolis-based financial services company's chief executive officer, talked about the future of the Advice Wealth Management team last week during a call the company held to go over earnings for the third quarter with securities analysts.

"We haven't put as much focus as we used to on the AWM business," Cracchiolo said.

Now, Cracchiolo said, there's an opportunity for Ameriprise's Columbia Threadneedle Investments arm to develop solutions aimed at the wealth advisor business.

What it means: The independent RIA space may be growing, but don't count the big broker-dealers out.

The Ameriprise strategy: Just what Columbia Threadneedle could end up offering Ameriprise advisors is unclear.

Cracchiolo was responding to a question from Suneet Kamath of Jefferies, who asked about how Ameriprise is benefiting from having both an asset management business and a wealth advisor business.

Ameriprise has put more focus in recent years on building relationships with outside distributors, Cracchiolo said.

Now, Ted Truscott, the CEO of Columbia Threadneedle, is "working on a combination of current solutions that he has, as well as bringing other solutions to bear," Cracchiolo said.

Cracchiolo gave no details about the new solutions in the pipeline.

Advisor recruiting deals: Another analyst, Steven Chubak of Wolfe Research, asked about the cost of acquiring advisors' practices.

Some buyers are using extra compensation to improve their offers to advisors, Cracchiolo said.

"I think it's a bit frothy," Cracchiolo said. "I do believe that, with the markets and other things, people are paying a bit more today than maybe is appropriate. As that starts to temper, I think you'll maybe see some adjustment in what people may be doing."

The firm's head of advisor recruiting, Manish Dave, resigned abruptly in early October.

Ameriprise itself is now making fewer acquisitions but getting books that are a little larger, Cracchiolo said.

"We continue to get good quality people," he said.

The numbers: Ameriprise reported that the number of employee advisors increased 5% between the third quarter of 2023 and the end of the latest quarter, to 2,212.

The number of franchisee advisors increased just two, to 8,156.

The total count rose 1%, to 10,368.

Total management and financial advice fee revenue climbed 17%, to $1.7 billion.

Fees from transactions and similar types of fees increased 3%, to $97 million.

Financial planning fees increased 9%, to $111 million, and advisory fees jumped 18%, to $1.45 billion.

Ameriprise CEO James Cracchiolo. Credit: Ameriprise

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