Ameriprise Financial opening regional office in Las Vegas

Ameriprise Financial Inc. is expanding to Las Vegas.

The Minneapolis-based financial services firm plans to open a Western regional office that will employ 300 people by April 1 a company executive said Friday.

"We wanted a second site for our call center and technology staff," said Bridget Sperl, Ameriprise's executive vice president of service delivery. "We also needed a Western hub to take advantage of the time zone to better serve our clients."

Sperl said the call center, which has space for as many as 900 employees, will handle financial transactions and other client services and employ computer programmers.

The company announced the expansion Friday, one day after it bought Sunset Pilot Plaza, a three-story, 100,000-square-foot office complex at 280 Pilot Road in the Hughes Airport Center business park, for an undisclosed price.

Sperl said employee recruitment will start by year's end, and a few employees will move from Minneapolis.

Pay rates for employees haven't been determined.