BISA Magazine - Quarter 4, 2017 - 22

FEATURE STORY

I

n April, Ameriprise Financial
announced it had signed a
definitive agreement to acquire
Investment Professionals, Inc.
(IPI), an independent broker/
dealer (B/D) based in San Antonio,
specializing in investment programs for
financial institutions including banks
and credit unions.
With a nationwide network of approximately 10,000 financial advisors,
Ameriprise is one the of the nation's
largest independent B/Ds. But, unlike
some other big independent B/Ds such
as LPL or Cetera, Ameriprise has not
participated in the bank distribution
channel until now.
We recently spoke with Pat O'Connell,
executive vice president, Ameriprise
Advisor Group, about the acquisition.

22
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Given that Ameriprise has 10,000
advisors and IPI only 200, how
much will the acquisition really add
to Ameriprise's bottom line?

How does Ameriprise expect to compete with rivals like LPL and Cetera,
which have been working in the
bank channel for many years?

"It will not be accretive to the bottom
line early on," says O'Connell, "but it is a
strategic acquisition for us. We are committed for the long term." Eventually, it
could prove a significant contributor to
company profits, he says, though he declined to make any specific projections.

"Over the years, we looked at different ways to get into this space,"
says O'Connell. Does the firm build a
third-party marketing firm (TPM) from
scratch? The space requires a certain
amount of expertise, so the firm looked
for a partner when deciding to move
forward. IPI was a good cultural fit,
says O'Connell, who emphasizes, "IPI's
leadership is staying in place."

IPI's 200 advisors operate out of over
140 financial institutions in 29 states.
The company had assets of over $8 billion at year-end in 2016.
In the short term, O'Connell expects
that IPI, founded in 1992, will continue
to target community banks, but it eventually could compete in the large bank
sphere as well.

IPI Chairman and Founder Scott Barnes
will serve in an advisory role with
Ameriprise to help integrate and grow
the business. In addition, Jay McAnelly,
president and CEO of IPI, will join
Ameriprise, providing continued leadership. He will report to O'Connell.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BISA Magazine - Quarter 4, 2017
