Giving Financial Pros and their Third Party Administrators an Edge

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.

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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