AMPAmeriprise Financial, Inc.

Ameriprise manages private client wealth through a network of financial advisers.

The base is advisers working with affluent families: fees are charged as a share of assets under management, so revenue grows with markets and with new inflows. Client relationships are long, and an adviser moving to a competitor takes clients along — hence competition for advisers themselves.

The second part is life insurance and annuities, where liabilities are long and reserve income depends on interest rates. The company steadily reduced that segment's share in favour of less capital-intensive wealth management. Ameriprise pays a dividend and buys back stock very actively. Adviser headcount and net client inflows are therefore the two numbers that decide the year.