Ameriprise notches record results amid Comerica wealth questions

With only days remaining before Fifth Third Bank's expected Feb. 1 closing of its $10.9 billion acquisition of Comerica Bank, the future of Comerica's wealth management relationship with Ameriprise remained in limbo.

Earlier this month, Fifth Third announced its intended date of completion of the deal, but representatives for the firms said this week that they had no comment on whether roughly 100 financial advisors at Comerica's wealth management business, with $15 billion in client assets, would continue to use Ameriprise's brokerage, advisory and custodial services.

On a Jan. 29 earnings call with analysts after Ameriprise disclosed its fourth quarter results, CEO Jim Cracchiolo and Chief Financial Officer Walter Berman didn't share any further updates. Comerica will decide the fate of the business "as part of whatever deal and arrangement" with Fifth Third, Cracchiolo said. In general, he and other Ameriprise executives "continue to see good opportunity in the financial institutions business" while receiving positive feedback from advisor teams at Comerica who "love our platforming capabilities" and client support, he noted.

"We have really generated really good value in our partnership with them," Cracchiolo said. "I know Comerica is very positive on our relationship."

In addition, Ameriprise and Comerica negotiated an agreement that long preceded its October merger deal with Fifth Third, Berman said. "The only thing I would add to that is, as you would imagine, any contractual arrangement that you have contemplates these sort of contingencies, and there were protections built into the contract."

To see the key takeaways from Ameriprise's Advice and Wealth Management unit from the Minneapolis-based firm's fourth-quarter earnings statement, scroll down the page. And follow these links for analysis of the results from the first, second and third quarters of 2025.

Recruiting rivalries and ongoing court fights with LPL

Earlier this month, Ameriprise unveiled former LPL Financial and Edward Jones teams that respectively joined the firm. The company no longer discloses its headcount, but Ameriprise noted in its earnings statement that 91 experienced advisors came to the firm in the last three months of 2025. That was the same number as in the fourth quarter of the prior year.

On the other hand, rivals such as NewEdge Advisors and the Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network each revealed incoming billion-dollar teams this week that included exiting Ameriprise advisors. And other ex-Ameriprise advisors who left the firm for LPL prevailed over both firms in an appeals court ruling this month that will force a lower federal court to hear their arguments against allowing forensics examiners to analyze their personal phones and devices. 

Financial advisor productivity

Higher transactional activity and rising client assets boosted advisor productivity to a record level in the fourth quarter. Adjusted annual operating net revenue per advisor rose 8% from a year ago to $1.1 million.

"Our proven adviser value proposition helps them achieve this level of productivity," Cracchiolo said in his prepared remarks. "This includes our interconnected systems and capabilities, anchored by our strong digital advice, CRM and extensive practice management resources. As we shared, we're also innovating with AI and automation to help advisers identify meaningful client insights and growth opportunities while reducing time-consuming tasks."

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Client assets

Strong flows and asset appreciation drove overall client assets and advisory holdings to records as well. Total client assets jumped 13% year over year to $1.2 trillion after in-flows expanded 18% to $13.3 billion for the quarter. In terms of wrap advisory accounts, assets climbed 17% to $670 billion following a 9% increase in in-flows that reached $12.1 billion.

Expenses

The larger business from advisor productivity brought higher expenses, with the wealth management unit's costs growing 11% year over year to $2.2 billion.

Bottom line

In the fourth quarter, the division generated pretax adjusted operating earnings of $926 million on adjusted operating net revenues of $3.16 billion for a margin of 29.3%. The profit swelled 13% from the same period last year, revenue surged 12% and margin ticked up by 30 basis points.

Across the whole company last year, net income increased 5% to $3.56 billion — a more modest gain than the 33% growth in 2024.

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Remark

Asked by an analyst how he feels about the pipeline of advisor talent on the recruiting trail and in terms of internal retention, Cracchiolo said prospects are "very good" for Ameriprise. The firm can "show why we actually help the advisor more over time generate value than the check" dangled to them by rivals, he said. 

"It doesn't mean you won't lose some people, because it depends on what people put out there and offer them," Cracchiolo said. "We're not looking to just attract anyone here. We have an excellent platform. We have excellent capabilities. We have excellent leadership that helps advisers. I continue to get notes from people who have come to us from the independents from wirehouses, from RIAs, and they said their only mistake was not coming to us sooner and their growth since they got here has been tremendous."