The Principal Financial Group Receives High Rankings from Large Plan R

The Principal Financial Group Receives High Rankings from Large Plan Retirement Clients; The Principal Garners ''Best in Class'' Status in Chatham Partners Study

    Business Editors/Financial Editors

    DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 2005--The Principal Financial Group(R), the nation's 401(k) leader and total retirement solutions innovator, again received extremely high satisfaction scores - marking an impressive five consecutive years of improvement - in a recent independent survey of retirement plan sponsor clients with $25 million or more in plan assets. Conducted by Chatham Partners, a leading provider of market research to the financial services industry, the survey revealed that The Principal(R) received several "best in class" rankings as defined by Chatham Partners and outperformed the research firm's benchmarks in all areas of overall impressions.
    "The commitment of The Principal to superior client service is again demonstrated by its very strong 2004 client satisfaction scores," said Peter Starr, president of Chatham Partners. "The Principal continues to improve its overall scores and best-in-class rankings by consistently soliciting the voice of its larger retirement clients and incorporating the feedback into their strategic and tactical initiatives. As a result, their overall client satisfaction and loyalty scores continue to raise the bar in the financial services industry. Further, the results affirm the ability of The Principal to deliver on its promise of an exceptional customer experience."
    "The Principal has long been known as a leader in the small to medium-sized retirement plan market. These outstanding client satisfaction numbers affirm our expertise at meeting client needs in the large plan market as well," said Paul Brown, vice president, The Principal.
    The study surveyed both key decision makers and day-to-day contacts from 224 defined contribution, defined benefit, combined defined benefit/defined contribution and investment-only clients of The Principal with $25 million or more in plan assets. Nearly 80% of those surveyed responded. Findings from the study include:

--	The Principal received "Best in Class" ratings for flexibility in meeting clients' needs, responsiveness, accessibility, plan knowledge and being easy to do business with.
--	The Principal outperformed the Chatham large plan benchmark across defined contribution, defined benefit and total retirement solutions in all areas of overall impressions such as Overall Satisfaction, Would Highly Recommend, Good Value for the Money, Offers Full Range of Services, Excellent Reputation, Treats Me as Important and Flexible in Meeting My Needs.
--	Client loyalty significantly exceeded the Chatham benchmark across all three plan types: defined contribution (14% above benchmark), defined benefit (41% above benchmark) and total retirement solutions (30% above benchmark).

    About Chatham Partners

    Chatham Partners is a market research and consulting firm specializing in assisting clients in maximizing the value of past, current and future customer and intermediary seller relationships through customer satisfaction win/loss and intermediary analysis. For additional information please call Peter Starr, president of Chatham Partners, at 617.581.6250 or visit www.chathamllc.com.

    About the Principal Financial Group

    The Principal Financial Group(R) (The Principal (R))(1) is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $168.7 billion in assets under management(2) and serves some 14.9 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

    (1) "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.

    (2) As of December 31, 2004

--30--CP/ms*

CONTACT: Principal Financial Group, Des Moines Terri Shell, 515-283-8858 shell.terri@principal.com or Susan Houser, 515-248-2268 houser.susan@principal.com

KEYWORD: IOWA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: INSURANCE HUMAN RESOURCES BANKING SOURCE: Principal Financial Group

Copyright Business Wire 2005