Ameriprise Launches Signature Wealth Program, Expanding UMA Offerings
Ameriprise Financial launched its Signature Wealth Program, a unified managed account (UMA) designed to offer advisors and clients highly personalized investment solutions. The program allows advisors to combine various investment and management options into a single portfolio, leveraging a pilot conducted in October 2024 with 200 advisor practices.
The Signature Wealth Program provides access to over 85 institutional investment models from 10 providers, including Columbia Threadneedle (an Ameriprise affiliate), Hartford, Nuveen, J.P. Morgan, BlackRock, and Calvert. Options include multi-asset, building block, specialty, and single models, alongside mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with investment minimums ranging from $5,000 to $50,000. Clients can customize up to 25% of their portfolio with client-directed mutual funds and ETFs, centrally traded and managed, aligning investments with their specific goals.
A third-party investment manager oversees discretionary investment decisions, with authority to buy or sell securities, as detailed in Ameriprise’s March 28, 2025, Form ADV filing. Clients retain direct ownership of underlying securities, while advisors recommend models, funds, and ETFs, respecting client restrictions. If an investment becomes ineligible, the manager maintains alignment with the client’s selected asset allocation and model portfolios. For client-directed models, the manager retains trading discretion.
The program carries a maximum advisory fee of 200 basis points and a platform fee of 2–5 basis points, based on household advisory assets. Matt Huss, Ameriprise’s SVP and head of product and platform solutions, stated, “Signature Wealth is differentiated by its highly intuitive and flexible design, allowing advisors to efficiently create custom, institutional-quality portfolios across their entire book of business while serving their clients’ best interests.”
The launch reflects the growing popularity of UMAs, driven by demand for tailored solutions among high-net-worth clients. Recent industry moves include Wellington Management, Vanguard, and Blackstone’s multi-asset collaboration, Apollo’s target date fund with State Street, and BlackRock’s UMA blending public and private markets. Charles Schwab introduced its Alternative Investments Select platform for clients with over $5 million and Manulife Wealth launched its Apex UMA Program.