Ameriprise to Sell Funds Outside Adviser Network

Ameriprise Financial will begin selling its RiverSource funds outside of its financial adviser network through banks and broker/dealers, the Pioneer Press reports.   Although Ameriprise has historically sold its funds through its captive sales force, it formed a distribution agreement with Securities America, a related firm, earlier this year. The company has not yet named its bank and B/D partners.   “There is a limit to what we can [get] out of our adviser network. That third-party distribution becomes a very necessary thing,” said Ted Truscott, chief investment officer at Ameriprise. Truscott said that selling off of different platforms might also help retain and attract strong portfolio managers.   But because the funds’ performance hasn’t been strong in the past, the firm will have stiff competition, noted Ryan Shannon, an investment adviser with Webb Financial Group.   That has changed this year, however, with 73% of the RiverSource funds above the median of their respective peer groups year-to-date through Sept. 30, according to Lipper data.   In addition, outflows have slowed. In the third quarter of this year, Ameriprise saw $800 million walk out the door, compared to $2.7 billion in the third quarter of 2005.   The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.