Transamerica Retirement Services Receives 17 "Best in Class" Ratings and Is Rated as the "Best Performer" in Chatham Partners' 2007 Client Satisfaction Analysis

Business Wire, Jan 22, 2008

Transamerica Exceeds the Proprietary Benchmark in 70 of the 73 Individual Attributes and All 20 Overall Attributes, Including "Overall Client Satisfaction"

LOS ANGELES -- Capping a year highlighted by industry recognition of its outstanding customer service, Transamerica Retirement Services ("Transamerica"), a marketing unit of Transamerica Financial Life Insurance Company, today announced it has received a total of 17 "Best in Class" ratings from the Chatham Partners' ("Chatham") December 2007 Client Satisfaction Analysis.

Transamerica received a total of 17 "Best in Class" ratings, including:

* Accuracy of processing employee contributions, distributions, and loans

* Overall satisfaction with employee transaction processing

* Timeliness of processing employee contributions, distributions, and loans

* Courteous and professional manner of SponsorConnect(SM 1) personnel

* Timeliness of participant statements

* Accuracy of participant statements

* Overall satisfaction with participant statements

* Accessibility of account specialist team

* Courteous and professional manner of account specialist team

* Problem resolution skills of account specialist team

* Proactive approach of account specialist team

* Overall satisfaction with account specialist team

* Overall satisfaction with plan recordkeeper

* Courteous and professional manner of participant contact center representatives

* Timeliness of plan level reports

* Knowledge of Client Relationship Manager of the retirement industry

* Range of investment choices offered

In addition, Transamerica was rated as the best performer among all providers when compared to the benchmark for the following attributes: Good Value for the Money, Treats Me as Important, Investment Choices/Performance, Automated Voice Response System, Plan Sponsor Web site, Participant Web site, Fees, Participant Services, Participant Statements, Client Relationship Manager, and Processing Employee Transactions.

Questions were rated on a 7-point scale with "6" and "7" representing the highest levels of satisfaction. A best in class rating was received when at least 85 percent of the respondents selected a "6" or "7" for a specific area. Transamerica received 11 best in class ratings in Chatham's 2006 analysis.

"Transamerica's unwavering commitment to customer service is evident in its year-over-year improvement in our client satisfaction analysis," said Peter Starr, president of Chatham Partners. "Although Transamerica had already established itself as a customer service leader in the retirement industry, the findings of this year's analysis demonstrate the company's dedication to always improving and enhancing its offerings."

Overall impressions of Transamerica exceeded Chatham's proprietary benchmark in all 7 categories, including:

* Overall Satisfaction with Transamerica

* Would Recommend to Others

* Good Value for the Money(a)

* Easy to do Business With

* Treats Me as Important(a)

* Reputation as a Retirement Services Provider

* Committed to Technology

For specific products and services, Transamerica outperformed Chatham's proprietary benchmark in all 13 product and service areas, including:

* Employee Education

* Investment Choices/Performance(a)

* Automated Voice Response System(a)

* Plan Sponsor Web site(a)

* Participant Web site(a)

* Fees(a)

* Plan Sponsor Services

* Participant Services(a)

* Participant Statements(a)

* Contact Center Reps

* Client Relationship Manager(a)

* Processing Employee Transactions(a)

* Personnel

(a) Transamerica Retirement Services was best performer in all of these categories.

"Each year Transamerica renews its commitment to improving client relationships by ensuring that we offer our clients the best products and services available in the retirement plan market today," said Kent Callahan, president and CEO of Transamerica Retirement Services. "Through our tireless efforts, Transamerica has established itself as a service leader for the industry. Chatham's analysis validates that claim."

Chatham's independent third-party research helps isolate Transamerica's key strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in delivery of client services, and benchmarks Transamerica's standing relative to other small-market defined contribution providers. By identifying the most important drivers of client satisfaction, Transamerica uses these findings to help provide the best possible retirement planning solutions for its clients.

About Chatham Partners

Chatham Partners is a market research and consulting firm specializing in assisting clients in maximizing the value of past, current and future customer, and intermediary seller relationships through customer satisfaction, win/loss and intermediary analysis. For additional information please contact Peter Starr, president of Chatham Partners, at (781) 314-0604 or visit www.chathamllc.com.

About Transamerica Retirement Services

Transamerica Retirement Services ("Transamerica"), a marketing unit of Transamerica Financial Life Insurance Company, 4 Manhattanville Road, Purchase, New York 10577, and other of its affiliates, designs customized retirement plan solutions to meet the unique needs of small- to mid-sized businesses. Transamerica Retirement Services ranked as the top plan provider2 in a recent PLANSPONSOR([R]) Magazine Defined Contribution Survey and has more than 14,5003 retirement plans totaling more than $14.13 billion in assets. For more information about Transamerica, please refer to www.TA-Retirement.com.