Banking group the Wachovia Corp. will acquire the defined contribution record-keeping business of Ameriprise Financial Inc.
Terms of the deal, which is subject to federal approval, were not disclosed.
The Ameriprise unit provided record keeping and plan administration services to 225 defined contribution retirement plans at the end of March -- covering nearly 700,000 participants and administering about $28 billion in assets.
Ameriprise said the sale was part of its strategy to focus on personal financial advisory, asset accumulation, income and protection services. The company will continue to provide investment management products and services, workplace financial education and IRA rollover services to defined contribution plans and retirement plan clients. Ameriprise's Financial Education and Planning Services will continue to provide workplace financial education to its more than 600 corporate clients, some of which are record keeping clients.
Wachovia already operates on the same core record keeping platform as Ameriprise, and has operations close to the existing Bloomington, Minn.-based unit.Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia, the No. 4 bank in the United States, will merge the unit into its Wachovia Retirement Services. W achovia has added some retirement services businesses from Bank of New York Co. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in recent years.
