BenefitsCorp Unveils Personalized Web Page for Defined Contribution Plan Participants.

Business Editors

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 30, 2002

BenefitsCorp, Inc., the defined contribution plan and retirement services provider of the Great-West family of companies, today announced the launch of yet another Web site enhancement -- personalized home pages created by the participant. BenefitsCorp is one of the first defined contribution providers to develop and implement this Web page offering for plan participants.

"We are constantly surveying our participants to determine what is at the forefront of their minds and what they would most like to see from us in terms of technology," said Charlie Nelson, president of BenefitsCorp. "We developed this feature to provide participants with a one-stop Web page that allows them to more conveniently manage their account."

The next time a BenefitsCorp plan participant logs on to the Web site, they will be given the option of personalizing their page at that moment or at another time in the future. Participants are able to change the appearance of their home page at any time by simply selecting any, or all, of the following options they would like to incorporate on their personalized account page:

-- My name and plan name

-- Current account balance

-- Balance by investment option chart

-- Balance by pie chart

-- Most recent contribution

-- Pending transfer notification

-- One month individual rate of return

Prior to the rollout of this new home page feature, BenefitsCorp user studies resulted in the company enhancing the Web site in the fourth quarter of 2001 by making participant account balances available on the home page. However, with the subsequent release of account balance pie charts, the company quickly found that participants increasingly viewed the pie chart page. Thus, the newly personalized BenefitsCorp home page was developed to give the option to participants of viewing all the information contained in the account balance page in one stop. Now, participants who like to view their breakdown of balance by investment option in both a chart and graphical presentation can do so without any additional clicks.

Also, concurrent with the release of personalized home pages, BenefitsCorp will be moving to a two-column home page. This was the result of polling both plan sponsors and plan participants, who voiced their desire for a fresh looking design and the ability to have more information displayed without having to vertically scroll. Another new added feature builds on the one-month individual rate of return available on the participant's personalized home page. BenefitsCorp now allows participants to view their individual rate of return for any two dates within the past eighteen months.

The development of the BenefitsCorp personalized account page is one of the first in the defined contribution plan market and effectively provides BenefitsCorp's participants with something few providers have done to date -- a "home" page for their account information.

"This is just the beginning," Nelson said. "At BenefitsCorp we take a great deal of pride in the fact that we are among our market's leaders in technology and we aim to keep that edge."

BenefitsCorp believes that this enhanced Internet functionality will help participants more effectively manage their accounts online and engage in their retirement plan. By developing and offering the new personalized account page that is user friendly, BenefitsCorp is taking the steps essential to allow plan participants to fully leverage the power and convenience of the Internet.

BenefitsCorp has already begun designing its next major Web site enhancement, Comparative Individual Rate of Return. In addition to providing participants with a general approximation of the overall recent performance of their account, the Web site will provide a tool for participants to compare their performance to others with similar investment objectives.

BenefitsCorp, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Great-West family of companies, is an industry leader providing investment, enrollment and communications services to defined contribution retirement plans in the government, healthcare and education markets. The company is the number one provider of services to the state government defined contribution market and the second-largest provider in the city/county market.

Note to Editors: Screen capture image available on request.