Business Men's Assurance Co. of America 'A-' Ratings Placed On Watch Negative.

NEW YORK -- On June 18, 2004, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services placed its 'A-' counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Business Men's Assurance Co. of America (BMA) on CreditWatch with negative implications.

Standard & Poor's took this rating action because of delays with the execution of BMA's business plan since it was acquired in May 2003, therefore at this time BMA's strategic importance to its ultimate parent, Royal Bank of Canada (TSE/NYSE:RY) (AA-/Stable/A-1+) is not as developed as previously expected. New product introductions should lead to some business growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2004.

Standard & Poor's plans to review BMA's long-range growth strategies, the execution of its plans, and its relationship with its parent. Standard & Poor's plans to resolve the CreditWatch status of the ratings by the end of this month, and if the ratings are lowered at all, Standard & Poor's does not expect to lower them by more than one notch.

Ratings List

TO              FROM
Business Men's Assurance Co. of America
Counterparty credit rating               A-/Watch Neg/--  A-/Stable/--
Financial strength rating                A-/Watch Neg     A-/Stable

Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's Web-based credit analysis system, at www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; under Credit Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Find Ratings, then Credit Ratings Search.