Ameriprise's wealth profits soar 30% as higher interest rates fuel earnings

Roughly three years after its launch, Ameriprise Bank is helping to boost the firm's wealth management earnings, a buffer to the impact of lower profits from managing client portfolios with slumping stocks.

Profits at the firm's Advice & Wealth Management segment vaulted upwards by 30% in the third quarter, even as market volatility dented client assets and advisory flows, according to the firm's Oct. 25 earnings statement. The Minneapolis-based firm added more than 200 independent financial advisors for the second quarter in a row, with its existing base improving their productivity on the strength of higher cash and other brokerage assets whose revenues are less linked to stock values.

Account flows grew "significantly" in the third quarter, thanks to Ameriprise's ability to "generate good growth in advisor productivity," CEO Jim Cracchiolo said in a statement.

"Ameriprise delivered another good quarter, demonstrating the strength of our business and ability to navigate periods of heightened volatility and market dislocation," Cracchiolo said. "Growth in our cash business and bank drove higher spread income in wealth management that more than offset equity market depreciation in our businesses." 

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To see the key wealth management takeaways from Ameriprise's third-quarter earnings statement, scroll down the slideshow. For coverage of the company's earnings in the second quarter, click here. To see the firm's results from the first quarter, follow this link.