Ameriprise Q3 2026 Adjusted EPS Rises 22% on Asset Growth

Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE: AMP) reported higher third-quarter earnings as growth in client assets and advisory fees supported its Wealth Management and Asset Management businesses, while share repurchases also contributed to a 22% increase in adjusted operating earnings per diluted share excluding annual assumption updates.

For the quarter ended September 30, 2026, adjusted operating earnings excluding unlocking impacts rose 14% from a year earlier to $1.10 billion. On a per-share basis, earnings increased to $12.07 from $9.92. Adjusted operating net revenue on the same basis grew 10% to $5.07 billion, and the pretax adjusted operating margin was 27.5%, compared with 27.1% a year earlier.

Unlocking impacts, which reflect Ameriprise’s annual review of insurance and annuity valuation assumptions and model changes, reduced after-tax adjusted operating earnings by $74 million. Including those effects, adjusted operating earnings increased 7% to $1.03 billion, or $11.26 per diluted share, up 14%.

On a GAAP basis, net income climbed 23% to $1.13 billion, while diluted earnings per share rose 32% to $12.32. GAAP net revenue increased 7% to $5.12 billion, and expenses rose 2% to $3.69 billion. The number of diluted weighted-average shares declined to 91.4 million from 97.8 million.

Total assets under management, administration and advisement increased 8% to $1.8 trillion. General and administrative expenses excluding unlocking rose 3% to $975 million, primarily reflecting volume-related costs and investments intended to support growth.

Wealth Management benefits from higher client assets

Advice & Wealth Management revenue rose 13% to $3.4 billion, while pretax adjusted operating earnings increased 12% to $989 million. The segment’s pretax adjusted operating margin was 29.3%, compared with 29.5% a year earlier, as total expenses also increased 13%.

Core distribution earnings grew by more than 20% and accounted for the majority of segment earnings, benefiting from higher client assets and advisory fees, strong activity and expense controls. Cash earnings were essentially unchanged, while bank earnings increased at a mid-single-digit percentage rate.

Total client assets grew 8%, or $93 billion, to $1.23 trillion. Wrap assets increased 12%, or $79 billion, to $729 billion, reflecting organic growth, advisor productivity and equity-market appreciation. Excluding Comerica, client net inflows rose 56% to $5.3 billion and wrap net inflows increased 38% to $6.6 billion. Ameriprise added 79 experienced advisors during the period and said advisor retention remained strong.

Financial-institution partnerships are expected to add further assets to the platform. The company said $28 billion associated with Huntington is scheduled to transition during the fourth quarter of 2026 and first quarter of 2027. Another $4 billion related to Huntington’s acquisition of Cadence Bank is expected to move onto the platform in mid-2027.

Total client cash declined 5% to $81 billion, mainly because of lower balances in third-party money-market funds. Cash sweep balances were stable at $27 billion, while bank assets increased 2% to $25 billion.

Asset Management margin rises to 46%

Asset Management’s total assets under management and advisement increased 4% to $743 billion. Adjusted operating revenue rose 9% to $990 million, supported by asset growth and a fee rate that remained at 48 basis points.

Pretax adjusted operating earnings advanced 18% to $308 million. The net pretax adjusted operating margin improved to 45.7% from 42.1%. Total expenses increased 6%, including an 11% rise in distribution expenses and a 2% increase in general and administrative costs due to higher compensation and volume-related expenses.

Retirement & Protection Solutions generated adjusted operating revenue of $997 million excluding unlocking, up 1%, as higher variable-annuity account balances supported results. Pretax adjusted operating earnings declined 1% to $198 million. Market appreciation and favorable life-insurance claims were offset by variable-annuity outflows and higher distribution expenses associated with strong structured-annuity sales. Segment sales increased 24% to $1.8 billion.

The company estimated its risk-based capital ratio at 462% and reported hedge effectiveness of 97%. Ameriprise said the Retirement & Protection businesses continued to perform in line with expectations despite the unfavorable annual assumption-update impact.

Capital returns increase

Ameriprise returned $1.0 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends during the quarter, equal to 93% of adjusted operating earnings excluding unlocking, including the repurchase of 1.6 million shares. Year-to-date capital returns increased 24% to $2.89 billion, with 4.9 million shares repurchased at an average price of $491.

The company announced a new $5.5 billion share-repurchase authorization running through September 30, 2028. It ended the quarter with $2.0 billion of excess capital and $2.3 billion of available holding-company liquidity. Adjusted operating return on equity excluding accumulated other comprehensive income and unlocking was 56.2%, up from 52.8% a year earlier.

Ameriprise also highlighted risks associated with its mature closed long-term-care insurance block. The portfolio contained 66,000 policies at September 30, with $2.5 billion of statutory reserves excluding $300 million of discretionary reserves. The company said sensitivities remained within manageable levels and consistent with prior years, while identifying potential additional rate increases and benefit reductions as risk-mitigation options. Management expects about two-thirds of the existing policies to run off over the next decade.