CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 8, 2005 -- FINEOS Corporation, a leading innovator of insurance and banking software, has just announced it has delivered the Principal Financial Group(R) with the FINEOS suite of disability claims management and payments systems.

The FINEOS solution set enables The Principal(R) to cut down on manual intervention, increase claims and payments processing throughput while maintaining current employee levels and, ultimately, reduce its claims costs. With the increased flexibility that the new system provides, The Principal expects it will be able to improve its speed-to-market for new products.

The suite includes both the FINEOS Disability Claims Manager and the FINEOS Benefit Payments systems. Both solutions have been implemented in the Specialty Benefits Division of The Principal in Des Moines, Iowa, to manage the company's Individual Disability claims and payment management processes. Future plans call for managing the Group Disability and Group Life claims and payment management processes.

The FINEOS Disability Claims Manager intelligently routes and monitors tasks, helps to introduce standardized work practices and improves the capture of data for analysis of trends, plan designs, risks etc. It effectively interfaces with the claims-related systems of The Principal, including accounting, check-draft system and reserves, etc. In addition, the insurance carrier has also deployed the FINEOS Benefit Payments system to consolidate all benefit payment data, and manage and process payments so that management has a comprehensive, real-time view of benefit payment activity.

Commenting on the announcement, Phil Porter, claims director, Specialty Benefits Division, the Principal Financial Group, said: "The impact that the FINEOS solution will have on The Principal is manifold. It will enable us to effectively adjudicate claims and meet the demands of projected business growth. The FINEOS application easily allows for changing business processes. The flexibility FINEOS affords with the Claims Manager and Benefit Payments components were important factors in our decision to implement FINEOS."

Doug Fick, CIO, Specialty Benefits Division, Principal Financial Group, said: "The Principal can now operate with one consistent framework for its Individual Disability claims processing. FINEOS is a very user-friendly, configurable system and offers flexibility, scalability and performance. Ultimately, this application will provide us with a stepping-stone to cost-effectively support the claims processing needs of our Group Disability and Group Life products."

Adding to this, Michael Kelly, CEO, FINEOS, said: "We're delighted to have yet another top disability provider of such stature on board. The FINEOS claims and payments solution will allow the Principal Financial Group to improve efficiencies and eliminate time-consuming, paper-based processes but, most importantly, it will enable their entire claims team to deliver a more effective level of performance."

About FINEOS:

FINEOS Corporation is a leading innovator in banking and insurance software. The company's product suite includes a range of customer management, business process automation and product management systems. In the front office, these solutions enable banks and insurers to effectively acquire, service and build customer relationships, improve service levels and reduce operating costs, while in the back office they provide for rapid product development and maintenance capacity.

The FINEOS customer base incorporates many of the world's leading financial institutions. Privately held, the company has offices in Ireland, the UK, Europe, USA, and Australia.

For more information, see www.FINEOS.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 $188.4 billion in assets under management (2) and serves some 15.3 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 September 30, 2005

Kevin Lash 
VP of Marketing & Alliances 
Tel: +1 704 231 2178 
Email: kevin.lash@FINEOS.com