Hartford Selects Neuberger Berman to Provide 401k Investment Advisory Services

SIMSBURY, CT, April 3, 2003 -- The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. today announced that Neuberger Berman, Inc. will offer investment advisory services to The Hartford's 401k plan sponsor clients through its new program, Neuberger Berman Plan IQSM. The new program provides solutions to retirement plan sponsors in the researching, selecting and monitoring of plan investments. In this capacity, Neuberger Berman will act as an investment advice fiduciary under Section 3(21)(A) of ERISA to those plans that follow its recommendations fully.

With its strong history of innovative, customer-oriented solutions, Hartford Life Insurance Co., a subsidiary of The Hartford and a leading provider of 401k plans in the small case market,* is the first company to partner with Neuberger Berman to offer this service. The Hartford chose the service to further strengthen its commitment to provide educational solutions and resources to plan sponsors, in addition to those it provides to participants.

"There's an increasing need to provide education, assistance and risk management at the plan sponsor level," said Jim Davey, vice president and managing director of corporate retirement plans at The Hartford. "With the number and complexity of investment choices available today, defined contribution plan sponsors want to feel comfortable that they're offering investment choices appropriate to the needs and goals of their employees."

Davey explained that The Hartford purposely selected a money manager to provide this service. "Neuberger Berman was chosen based on its more than sixty years of managing money for institutions, corporations and pension funds. That is their area of expertise and as a result, that makes this a very unique service that the market hasn't seen until now," he said.

"Neuberger Berman's Advisory Services group leverages our time-tested money management capability and resources to offer the Plan IQSM program," said Neuberger Berman senior vice president, David Root. "This unbiased program is an important risk management tool, because it can help small- to mid-sized business owners assess and manage the risk within their 401k plans. We developed this program to provide independent guidance and investment solutions."

Through its Plan IQSM program Neuberger Berman reviews and analyzes a plan sponsor's employee demographics and plan status. Based on the results, Neuberger Berman recommends investment selections suited to the risk/reward parameters of the company's employee demographics.

To help ensure unbiased guidance, Neuberger Berman's funds are not available through this program. As an added value and to help make certain that the plan's progress is monitored with an objective frame of reference, The Hartford's plan sponsor clients will also receive a formal Investment Policy Statement from Neuberger Berman as well as receive advice and reporting for possible recommendations of changes to the investment offerings. In addition, Neuberger Berman will monitor investment selections for The Hartford's core retirement program.

"Financial Advisors have been asking for this type of service and support to complement what they bring to the table in the sales process," said Davey. "This service completes our vision of providing educational solutions and resources at not only the participant level, but for the plan sponsor as well, helping them manage risk within their retirement programs."

*Plan Sponsor magazine, 2001 Defined Contribution Record-keeping Survey

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