Ameriprise's wealth management business reported a 2% year-over-year fall in net revenue during the first three months of this year.
Firmwide, Ameriprise saw a 4% decline in operating net revenues, according to the company latest quarterly earnings report.
Pretax operating earnings shrunk by $5 million to $205 million, due to below average market performance, the firm says. Ameriprise blamed underperforming equity markets this quarter for a reduction in average client assets. Lowered client activity levels also drove revenues down, caused by uncertain market conditions, the firm said.
Ameriprise reported $451 billion in total client assets, a $1.5 billion decrease from the year ago period. The firm, however, said it had $1.8 billion in net inflows during the first quarter.
"While client activity slowed given the markets, we continued to generate solid net inflows in fee-based investment advisory accounts and strong investment performance,” Ameriprise CEO Jim Cracchiolo says in a statement.
The firm did say that it has grown its advisor numbers in the independent space. Ameriprise's independent channel had 7,720 advisors, up 113 from the year ago period. Meanwhile, the employee channel had 2,046 advisors, 38 less for the same period, according to Ameriprise.
Total advisor headcount for the firm was 9,766 this quarter, 23 fewer from the previous quarter.
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