The Principal Financial Group® has made the 2012 InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation's most innovative users of business technology. The Principal® was named 159th, which marks over a decade of consecutive appearances on the list for The Principal®.

"Our talented IT professionals and their business partners across the globe have helped earn The Principal recognition from InformationWeek year after year," said Gary Scholten, senior vice president and chief information officer, The Principal. "Their collaboration and creativity helps us to deliver technology-enabled innovation to our customers and shareholders worldwide, every day."

Contributing to the company's most recent InformationWeek recognition is the development of a digital platform for life insurance processing. The eApplication system delivers a host of benefits for financial professionals and customers of The Principal, including more cost-effective operations and drastically reduced the amount of time to apply for and obtain a life insurance policy. To support flexibility needs of financial professionals, The Principal enabled mobile device access to the eApplication, allowing new business requests to be submitted on-the-go.

"The InformationWeek 500 has recognized the most innovative users of business technology for 24 years, and this year's innovations were particularly impressive," said InformationWeek Editor In Chief Rob Preston. "What the editors looked for are unconventional approaches--new technologies, new models, new ways of grabbing business opportunities and solving complex business problems with IT."

Additional details on the InformationWeek 500 can be found online at www.informationweek.com/iw500/.

For more news and insights from The Principal, connect with us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ThePrincipal.

About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial Group® (The Principal ®)1 is a global investment management leader including retirement services, insurance solutions and asset management. The Principal offers businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement, asset management and insurance through its diverse family of financial services companies. Founded in 1879 and a member of the FORTUNE 500®, the Principal Financial Group has $367.1 billion in assets under management2 and serves some 18.2 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.

About the InformationWeek 500
InformationWeek 500 identifies and honors the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual 500 listing, now in its 24th year, and also tracks the technology, strategies, investments and administrative practices of some of the best-known organizations in the country. Past overall winners include PACCAR Inc., The Vanguard Group, CME Group, National Semiconductor, Con-Way, and the Principal Financial Group. The InformationWeek 500 rankings are unique among corporate rankings as it spotlights the power of innovation in information technology, rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders.

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 June 30, 2012.

Principal Financial Group
Joelle Kirchhoff, 515-246-4907
Kirchhoff.joelle@principal.com