The Ameriprise Financial Business Continuity Management Program
Ameriprise Financial is committed to providing exceptional service to clients without interruption. Maintaining an effective business continuity management program is essential to achieve that goal. We are committed to protecting our clients’ and the company’s operations, information and assets without disruption.
We invest in significant resources, including dedicated staff and processes, to create and maintain plans and resilient strategies within our business and services. Our firm-wide program provides an integrated approach in addressing the needs of our business and operations - our staff, facilities, technology and data - incorporating resiliency and continuity into the way we work.
Event management and response
We maintain appropriate plans, processes and response capabilities that allows for an efficient and effective response in the event of a business disruption. Worldwide events are monitored for potential impacts to our operations. The Event Response Team (ERT) comprised of leaders and subject matter experts, is available 24/7 to facilitate a well-coordinated response to events which may cause disruptions – including sudden and unexpected events, such as severe weather or a global pandemic – and proactively works with the business and technology to mitigate impacts. Ongoing training and education are provided to all employees help prepare the firm for possible business disruptions, as well as validate a response for a variety of possible incidents with key personnel.
Business continuity
We create, document, and maintain business continuity plans (BCPs) based upon a proactive “all hazards” approach in preparing for disruptions of varying severity and scope; from a destructive severe weather event to a technology outage, our plans and strategies address the potential for both short-term and long-term disruptions.
BCPs are reviewed and updated, at a minimum, annually or in the event of a material change through a series of plan enhancement workshops facilitated by a business continuity subject matter expert with participation from the business area and management. As part of the planning process, we conduct a business impact analysis with each business area, which helps determine the criticality of business processes. We conduct exercises to validate our plans and recovery strategies. Plans are approved and certified annually by business leadership.
Ameriprise maintains multiple recovery solution strategies that enable us to activate the appropriate strategy based upon the severity and duration of the event or business disruption. Key components include alternate workplace recovery facilities, remote access workplace strategies and geo-dispersed operations. Our flexible, multi-faceted approach allows us to respond appropriately and effectively based on the type of event. Regular exercises and testing are conducted to validate the plans are effective, and that critical applications and recovery procedures are in place.
Disaster recovery
We maintain established policies, standards and operational measures designed to back-up and protect our data. Disaster Recovery Plans (DRPs) are designed and tested by our technology teams to address the specific needs and risks of technology systems and applications. Plans are updated to reflect changes and the most current information and are approved annually as part of our formal plan certification. Regular exercises and testing are conducted to validate the plans are effective, and that critical applications and recovery procedures are in place. Dedicated technology teams ensure that critical applications and data have appropriate redundancy and are replicated offsite. Testing and validation of backup frequency is based upon the critical nature of the data. Our recovery approach is designed to guard against the loss of critical data.
We recognize that despite the measures we have taken and may in the future take to address and mitigate technology risks, natural or man-made disasters and other events, we cannot be certain that we will not experience outages, interruptions or interference that may impact our processes or operations. As with other firms in the industry, we may be impacted by events that are beyond our control. We believe we have reasonable, intentional processes and utilize best practices to allow us to manage the associated risks and resume operations.
Conclusion
The Ameriprise Financial Business Continuity Management program will continue to evolve to meet the needs of our clients, employees and other stakeholders. We will post information about updates or modifications to the plan on ameriprise.com.
If you should have questions, please send your inquiry to:
Ameriprise Financial
70100 Ameriprise Financial Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55474