Des Moines, IA, September 19, 2008 -- The Principal Financial Group(R) has once again made the InformationWeek 500 -- a prestigious list of the most innovative users of information technology in the United States. The Principal(R) ranked 9th this year, marking the fourth consecutive year The Principal(R) has been recognized in the top 25 and the eleventh year the company has made the list.

"The Principal is proud to once again be included in the InformationWeek 500, as this list uniquely highlights business innovationthrough information technology," said Gary Scholten, senior vice president and chief information officer of the Principal Financial Group. "Receiving top marks from InformationWeek speaks well to the business value that The Principal gets from its technology investment, and recognizes how well our business and IT professionals work together to provide value to our customers and shareholders."

Business Need + Technology Know How = My Principal Edge MilestonesSM

Contributing to the company's most recent InformationWeek recognition is the development of My Principal Edge Milestones, an interactive program that analyzes financial needs and gives employees of growing businesses an easy to follow roadmap of actions to help meet their goals. Information technology professionals at The Principal leveraged several technologies that were new to The Principal to deliver the solution.

"Traditionally, financial guidance has been focused on affluent individuals, but through the collaboration between IT and Retirement and Investor Services, The Principal is able to offer help for the 'rest of us' with My Principal Edge Milestones," said Luke Vandermillen, national director of worksite solutions for the Principal Financial Group. "The result is a program that benefits financial professionals, our customers and their employees and ultimately, our business."

Available online or at the worksite, early use of the tool shows double digit increases in benefit participation. In 2007, employees took some 40,000 benefit plan actions after using Milestones during nearly 70,000 one-on-one worksite meetings.

About The InformationWeek 500

InformationWeek has identified and honored the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual listing, now in its 20th year, and has tracked the technology, strategies, investments and administrative practices of America's best-known companies. The list is unique among corporate rankings because it spotlights the power of innovation in information technology, rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders. Additional details on the InformationWeek 500 can be found online at www.informationweek.com/iw500/.

About the Principal Financial Group

The Principal Financial Group(R) (The Principal(R)) 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 $308.0 billion in assets under management and serves some 19.0 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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The Principal Financial Group Rhonda Clark-Leyda, 515-247-6634 clark-leyda.Rhonda@principal.com