BofA cuts Ameriprise to Underperform, citing advisor exits and retention loan costs

Bank of America cut Ameriprise Financial to Underperform from Buy on Monday, pointing to large team departures and the cost of retaining the advisors who stay.

The stock fell 4.07% to $480.41 on Monday after the Bank of America group, led by Craig Siegenthaler, lowered its price target to $445 from $570. AdvisorHub reported the downgrade.

Ameriprise has responded by offering retention bonuses structured as forgivable loans, according to an industry recruiter who spoke to AdvisorHub on condition of anonymity. The awards can reach around 100% of a broker's trailing-12-month production and went to at least 100 teams that had been the "most noisy" about their dissatisfaction, the recruiter said. Many advisors who were undecided took the offer, and the recruiter's assessment was that it is "working more than it's not."

BofA cited the retention offers, which Citywire reported earlier, as another factor that could weigh on Ameriprise's wealth margins. The analysts noted that the firm's loans for transition assistance and recruiting grew 25% year over year in 2025.

Ameriprise, a Minneapolis-based firm with around 10,000 employees, lost at least five teams holding $12.75 billion in combined assets between May and September, according to the BofA report, which cited publicly reported defections. In September, Rise Private Wealth Management, which managed $4.3 billion, and Fathom Advisors, which oversaw $1.3 billion, each left to start their own RIAs.

The analysts wrote that large team departures "may now be structural given the attractive economics in RIA ownership while stronger recruiting/retention from the wirehouses has also slowed breakaways" to independent broker-dealers. They also noted that Ameriprise's issues have persisted while rivals show positive trends, including a "reacceleration" at LPL Financial.

Excluding the addition of around 260 advisors from Huntington Bank, Ameriprise's advisor headcount would likely reflect a net loss for 2026, the analysts wrote, after 0.7% growth in 2025. Last year's growth benefited from the addition of some Commonwealth Financial advisors who were disrupted by their firm's purchase by LPL.