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José Marques

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Western & Southern Life Named to Training Top 125

CINCINNATI – Jan. 26, 2010 – The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company (Western & Southern Life), a member of Western & Southern Financial Group, has announced that its field training and development program ranks No. 115 in the 2010 Training Top 125 list of companies from Training magazine.

"This recognition is another affirmation of the value we place on preparing our sales force to deliver outstanding service to our customers," explained Bryan C. Dunn, president of Western & Southern Life’s Agency Group. "The combination of Western & Southern Financial Group’s world-class financial strength and our quality field training helped us achieve a 31 percent increase in the number of life policies sold in 2009 as compared to 2008."

For the award, training departments are judged on the following:

• Training tied to business objectives;
• Employee turnover and retention;
• Leadership development;
• Evaluation procedures;
• Training budget as percentage of payroll; and
• Overall business results.

Award winners are determined by an outside research and statistical data company, under the guidance of Training magazine. The magazine’s editors also review each company’s qualifications. Training is a professional development magazine that advocates training and workforce development as a business tool.

Western & Southern Life’s field training and development program is responsible for the professional development of the company’s 2,220-member field sales force across the United States. New Agent Introduction (NAI) is one of the features from the company’s program that contributed to the top 125 ranking. This multi-faceted training program is based on adult learning principles and includes:

• Online modules with do-it-yourself activities;
• Instructor-led workshops featuring managers serving as coaches for sales representatives; and
• Call sessions at the Cincinnati home office’s Client Relationship Center with their coaches.

Other best-practice training programs showcased by Western & Southern Life included the introduction and rollout of a new field compensation plan that better aligned compensation with sales results. Past award recipients include Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, Nationwide, Ameriprise Financial, Capital One, Best Buy, Verizon and Microsoft Corporation.

About The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company
The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, and its wholly owned subsidiary 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, see 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 $44 billion as of Dec. 31, 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;¹, ² 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.