June 28, 2010
Mark Cowan
Office of Insurance Products
Division of Investment Management
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E. (Mail Stop 5-6)
Washington, D.C. 20549
ATTN: Document Control - Edgar
RE: Post-Effective Amendment No. 60 on Form N-4
RiverSource Variable Account 10 ("Registrant")
File Nos. 333-79311/811-07355
Post-Effective Amendment No. 33 on Form N-4
RiverSource of New York Variable Annuity Account ("Registrant")
File Nos. 333-91691/811-07623
RiverSource RAVA 5 Advantage Variable Annuity
RiverSource RAVA 5 Select Variable Annuity
RiverSource RAVA 5 Access Variable Annuity
Dear Mr. Cowan:
This letter is in response to Staff's comments received on or about June 25,
2010 for the above-referenced Post-Effective Amendment filed on or about May 12,
2010. Comments and responses are outlined below.
COMMENT 1. General
Please clarify the term "investment options." It is unclear whether the
term is intended to refer to PN program fund of funds or more broadly.
RESPONSE:
As used throughout the prospectus, "investment options" include generally any
underlying funds available under the contract or as otherwise restricted such as
with respect to the Portfolio Navigator program. For example, we define "Funds"
under the "Key Terms" section of the prospectus as, "Investment options under
your contract." To clarify the use of term "investment options" in connection
with the Portfolio Navigator program, we have made the following change to the
first paragraph of the "Portfolio Navigator Program" section of the prospectus
(revisions in italics):
"The PN program is available for nonqualified annuities and for qualified
annuities. The PN program currently allows you to allocate your contract value
to one of five investment options, each of which is a
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fund of funds which has a particular investment objective and invests in
underlying funds. You are required to participate in the PN program if your
contract includes an optional Accumulation Protector Benefit rider or
SecureSource Stages 2 rider. If your contract does not include one of these
riders, you also may elect to participate in the PN program at no additional
charge. You should review any PN program information, including the terms of the
PN program, carefully. Your financial advisor can provide you with additional
information and can answer questions you may have on the PN program."
COMMENT 2. PN Program (p.45)
The disclosure states that if your contract includes the SecureSource
Stages 2 rider, the company reserves the right to limit the number of investment
options from which you can select, subject to state restrictions. Please
disclose whether there is a minimum number of investment options that must be
offered.
RESPONSE:
We have revised the paragraph in question as follows (revisions in italic):
"SecureSource Stages 2 rider: SecureSource Stages 2 rider requires that your
contract value be invested in one of the investment options for the life of the
contract. Subject to state restrictions, we reserve the right to limit the
number of investment options from which you can select based on the dollar
amount of purchase payments you make. There is no minimum number of investment
options that must be offered in connection with SecureSource Stages 2 rider.
Currently the limitation is five, each a fund of funds, from which you may
select one. Because you cannot terminate the SecureSource Stages 2 rider once
you have selected it, you must terminate your contract by requesting a full
surrender if you do not want to participate in any of the investment options.
Surrender charges and tax penalties may apply. Therefore, you should not select
the SecureSource Stages 2 rider if you do not intend to continue participating
in the PN program for the life of the contract."
COMMENT 3. Cover page
Please remove the disclosure that suggests liability is limited for
statements made in the prospectus: "This prospectus provides a general
description of the contracts. Your actual contract and any riders or
endorsements are the controlling documents."
RESPONSE:
Complied. The disclosure has been removed.
COMMENT 4. Contract in Brief
Disclosure states that withdrawals during 3-year waiting period "could"
negatively impact the value of the guarantee. Shouldn't it state that
withdrawals "will" impact the guarantee value? (See disclosure under
"Surrenders" on the next page.)
RESPONSE:
Complied. Disclosure has been revised and states that "...withdrawals will
negatively impact the value of your income guarantee provided by this rider."
COMMENT 5. Participating in the PN program
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Why reference to financial advisor since the program now consists of funds
of funds? It suggests contract owners should have a financial advisor.
RESPONSE:
The reference to "financial advisor" in the paragraph headed, "Participating in
the PN program" under the "Portfolio Navigator Program" section of the
prospectus is an industry term used throughout the prospectus to describe the
registered representatives of the broker-dealer, who provide advice to clients
incidental to the sale of the contracts. We have added a clarifying phrase (in
italics) to address your comment as follows:
"PARTICIPATING IN THE PN PROGRAM. If you choose or are required to participate
in the PN program, you are responsible for determining which investment option
is best for you or whether to remain in a fund of funds. Your financial advisor
can help you make this determination, although his or her assistance is not
offered in connection with an investment advisory agreement specific to the PN
program. In addition, your financial advisor may provide you with an investor
questionnaire, a tool to help define your investing style which is based on
factors such as your investment goals, your tolerance for risk and how long you
intend to invest. Your responses to the investor questionnaire can help you
determine which investment option most closely matches your investing style.
While the scoring of the investor questionnaire is objective, there is no
guarantee that your responses to the investor questionnaire accurately reflect
your tolerance for risk. Similarly, there is no guarantee that the fund of funds
you select or selected after completing the investor questionnaire is
appropriate to your ability to withstand investment risk. RiverSource Life is
not responsible for your decision to participate in the PN program, your
selection of a specific investment option, or your decision to change to a
different investment option."
In addition to the comments listed above, the Staff has requested that we make
the following representations on behalf of the Registrant. In connection with
the Post-Effective Amendment listed above, RiverSource Life Insurance Company
(the "Company"), on behalf of the Registrant, hereby acknowledges the following:
The disclosures in the filing are the responsibility of the Company and the
Company is fully responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the
disclosures in this filing. The Company represents to the Commission that
comments made by the Commission, or the staff acting pursuant to delegated
authority, or changes to disclosure in response to staff comments in the
filing reviewed by the staff, do not foreclosure the Commission from taking
any action with respect to the filing, and the Company represents that it
will not assert this action as a defense in any proceeding initiated by the
Commission or any person, under the federal securities laws of the United
States.
If you have any questions concerning this filing, please contact me at (612)
671-2237, or Boba Selimovic at (612) 671-7449.
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Sincerely,
/s/ Rodney J. Vessels
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Rodney J. Vessels
Assistant General Counsel
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