BANKERS COMPLETES TWO-YEAR IMPLEMENTATION OF STATE-OF-THE-ART PHONE SYSTEM

CHICAGO (June 9, 2003) - Bankers Life and Casualty Company, Chicago, has moved to protect potential clients from unwanted sales calls. The 125-year-old national insurer completed rollout of automated do-not-call management and blocking technology from Gryphon Networks in all its sales offices at the close of the first quarter 2003. Gryphon's service, which has been adopted by other large financial firms that depend on direct telephone marketing to potential customers, prevents calls being placed to numbers on state and federal do-not-call lists and to areas restricted by call curfew. It allows agents to add individuals to the company's own do-not-call list with touchtone entry on any telephone and provides detailed call reporting tools for measuring sales force productivity.

Michael Snavely, Second Vice President of Customer Acquisition, said, "Our investment in this system is a sign of Bankers' commitment to self-regulation of sales efforts. Our position as a leader in the industry means that we take very seriously the privacy of our customers and the public in general. This system eliminates the possibility that our agents will call consumers who have asked not to receive calls, so it benefits the public and it helps Bankers comply with state and federal do-not-call regulations."

Gryphon technology provides not only do-not-call compliance, but a robust reporting platform to monitor and manage agent call activity. "Agents know that call productivity drives sales, and they appreciate knowing where they are relative to those goals." Snavely said, "The Gryphon system allows us to track agent phone activity much more effectively. We can tell, for example, whether an agent is calling at the right time of day, what call productivity is, and other factors that impact sales."

Snavely said key sales offices piloted the system beginning in September 2001. He said the offices, mostly in Florida, found the system highly useful and liked the protection from violation of federal and state regulations. With 80 percent of all field offices using the system regularly, Snavely projects that the remaining Bankers offices will be fully-trained and utilizing Gryphon Networks' service regularly well before the upcoming national do-not-call list is implemented this Fall.

Established in 1879 and headquartered at the historic Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, Bankers Life and Casualty Company focuses exclusively on the financial security needs of seniors. The company offers a broad portfolio of health and life insurance and retirement savings products designed especially for seniors. These products are distributed through a national network of professionally trained company agents. Visit us online at www.bankers.com.

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