Giving Financial Pros and their Third Party Administrators an Edge

The Principal announces big enhancements to help financial pros and TPAs grow
business
DES MOINES, Iowa--(Business Wire)--
Demand for the services of third party administrators (TPAs) is growing. Nearly
45-percent of new sales opportunities in the start-up to $5 million retirement
plan market use a TPA service model1.

To help financial professionals and their TPAs capture new sales and more
efficiently manage their existing business, the Principal Financial Group®
announces significant enhancements to its TPA program.

Principal TPA EdgeSM program now offers TPAs more choice and flexibility in
servicing their clients with improvements to its unbundled service model,
pricing and technology platform.

"We understand TPAs want and need flexibility if they are going to meet the
market demand-no matter the client size," said Jeff Schreiber, vice president of
TPA business development at The Principal®. "We are committed to making it
easier for them to choose how they work with us to service their clients. Our
extensive experience as a retirement plan leader uniquely positions us to create
efficiencies with unbundled services for TPAs that are hard to match in the
industry."

The enhanced Principal TPA EdgeSM program offers:

* Pricing enhancements-recognizing the efficiencies of the TPA model and helping
TPAs be more competitive
* Dedicated TPA service team-TPAs can connect with a team that understands their
business; team members have an average of more than 12 years experience2
* New TPA reporting capabilities-allows TPAs to easily create and review
transaction reports online
* Automated services-TPAs can use these key electronic services: Participant
Vesting Service, Automated Benefit Event Process and Participant Loan Services
* Retirement Dashboard-enhanced technology allows TPAs to manage their book of
business with The Principal 24-hours a day, seven days a week

"Principal TPA EdgeSM helps financial professionals when they are servicing
clients administered by a TPA," said Schreiber. "Because we value the
partnership between financial professionals and TPAs, we are committed to
flexibility and continually improving our offering to meet their needs."

About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial Group® (The Principal ®)3 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 $280.4
billion in assets under management4 and serves some 18.6 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.

#8709112011

1 Retirement Research, Inc., 2008
2 As of Dec. 31, 2008
3 "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service
marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial
Group.
4 As of September 30, 2009

The Principal
Terri Hale, 515-283-8858
hale.terri@principal.com
or
Jaime Naig, 515-247-0798
naig.jaime@principal.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009