FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Emily J. Carpenter-Pulskamp

Senior Media Relations Specialist (513) 629-1388

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WSLife.com Recognized With Second Consecutive No. 1 Ranking by Customer Respect Group

CINCINNATI – Jan. 26, 2010 – Western & Southern Life, a member of Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern), has announced that the Customer Respect Group has ranked WSLife.com No. 1 in the life insurance industry for a second consecutive year in its annual Online Customer Respect Study of Life Insurance Industry Web sites.

WSLife.com again was awarded an "Excellent Rating," with top-five ratings in each of the five sub-indexes of the Customer Respect Index (CRI). Of additional significance, last year’s recognition of the WSLife.com Web site by the Customer Respect Group was the first time that an insurance agency received an "Excellent Rating."

The Customer Respect Group is an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat and respect their online customers.

"Western & Southern Life’s team has worked very hard to make WSLife.com a valuable resource for our life insurance clients. We are extremely excited to be honored with a No. 1 ranking by the Customer Respect Group for the second year in a row," said Bryan C. Dunn, president of W&S Agency Group. "Over the past four years, we have been consistently recognized by the Customer Respect Group, and two No. 1 rankings in a row validate that we truly focus on the customer."

The Customer Respect Group evaluated Web sites on content, navigation, search, trust, and dialog. The Western & Southern Life site ranked first place overall in both trust and dialog and second place overall in navigation. The research firm designed the CRI to identify best practices, online trends, common practices, and developments within the commercial Web environment. In addition to the five sub-indexes, the CRI measured 50 visitor benefit statements and 200 objectively measured criteria.

The Customer Respect Group reviews more than 300 Web sites annually across multiple industries. The research group explained that this collective and continuously updated knowledge-base provides both an objective cross-industry benchmark and a unique insight into current and future online requirements as functionality migrates across industries at a pace driven by customer expectations.

WSLife.com is one of only three life insurance Web sites to receive the "Excellent Rating" for online customer respect. Following behind top-ranked Western " Southern Life in the CRI rankings were No. 2 MetLife, No. 3 Thrivent, No. 4 New York Life, and No. 5 Nationwide and State Farm (tied).

Western & Southern Life is the marketing name for The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company and Western-Southern Life Assurance Company.

About The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company
The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, and its wholly owned member Western-Southern Life Assurance Company, both members of Western & Southern Financial Group, offer life insurance, interest-sensitive life insurance, fixed annuities, retirement strategies and personalized needs analysis for individuals, families and businesses in the middle-income market. They have 181 field offices nationwide, plus WSLife.com and the Client Relationship Center. Both companies are licensed in 43 states and the District of Columbia. For free financial tools, career opportunities and product information, visit www.wslife.com.

About Western & Southern Financial Group
Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern) is a Cincinnati-based diversified family of financial services companies with assets owned, managed and under our care in excess of $43 billion as of Sept. 30, 2009. A Fortune 500 company, Western & Southern has received Standard & Poor’s AA+ Very Strong rating (one of the nine strongest life insurance groups in the world), A.M. Best’s A+ Superior rating, Fitch’s AA Very Strong rating and Moody’s Aa3 Excellent rating, all with a Stable outlook. With a heritage dating to 1888, the group’s affiliates include The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company; Western-Southern Life Assurance Company; Capital Analysts Incorporated;¹² Columbus Life Insurance Company; Eagle Realty Group, LLC; Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc.;¹ Fort Washington Savings Company;³ IFS Financial Services, Inc.; Integrity Life Insurance Company; The Lafayette Life Insurance Company; National Integrity Life Insurance Company; Touchstone Advisors, Inc.;¹ Touchstone Securities, Inc,² and W&S Financial Group Distributors, Inc. For more information, visit www.westernsouthern.com. Western & Southern is the title sponsor of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women’s Open tennis tournaments.

¹ A registered investment advisor.
² A registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC.
³ Member FDIC.

Ratings refer to the financial strength of the insurance company and not to the safety, stability or performance of any investment product.