ING Announces Significant Enhancements to Its Variable Universal Life Insurance Investment Line-Up

Industry studies show that a renewed appeal of variable life products emerged in the marketplace in 2004. According to Tillinghast's VALUE™ Survey, the Variable Annuity and Live User Exchange, variable life sales were up 11 percent in 2004, with much of that gain at the end of the year as sales climbed 20 percent in the fourth quarter over the prior quarter.

With an eye towards a continued upswing of variable life sales, ING U.S. Financial Services has announced it has significantly revamped its fund line- up for its variable universal life insurance subaccounts. As part of the change, the company has introduced as many as 55 new funds sub-advised by asset managers.

In addition to enhancing access to funds managed by asset managers across the industry, the new fund line-up will also create enhanced consistency across ING's life insurance companies in the U.S.: ReliaStar Life Insurance Company, ReliaStar Life Insurance Company of New York, and Security Life of Denver Insurance Company.

"Over many years and a number of acquisitions, our company has added numerous investment options to our variable life products," said Jim Gelder, president of ING Life Distribution. He added, "Our unified investment approach helps us offer quality fund managers, competitive fund expense ratios, and better sales and customer service support across our variable life products."

Gelder continued, "By streamlining our fund offerings, we achieve greater scale, and therefore, create lower fees and the potential for increased performance to benefit our customers. This approach will also make it easier for policy-holders and their advisors to manage investments within ING products."

The company utilizes a multi-manager, sub-advised platform approach for its variable life offerings. Clients with variable life insurance policies can choose from more than 60 investment options. ING offers fund portfolios sub-advised by more than two dozen investment managers such as: Capital Research and Management Company (American Funds®), Fidelity Investments®, ING Investment Management, JP Morgan Asset Management, OppenheimerFunds®, Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), Pioneer Investment Management, Inc., T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and Van Kampen Investments. Among the investment options added are: ING Julius Baer Foreign Portfolio, managed by Rudolph Riad-Younes and Richard Pell; ING Oppenheimer Global Portfolio, managed by William Wilby; ING Mercury Large Cap Growth Portfolio, managed by Bob Doll; and ING Van Kampen Growth and Income Fund, managed by Jim Gilligan.

Complete variable investment option line-up is available at ING's U.S. web site at ing.com/us/newsroom/pr .

  Press inquiries: Phil Margolis, 860-723-4783, phil.margolis@us.ing.com

  About ING:

ING Group is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management to more than 60 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 50 countries. With a diverse workforce of more than 113,000 people, ING comprises a broad spectrum of prominent companies that increasingly serve their clients under the ING brand.

In the U.S., the ING family of companies offers a comprehensive array of financial services to retail and institutional clients, which include financial planning, life insurance, retirement plans, mutual funds, managed accounts, alternative investments, direct banking, institutional investment management, annuities, employee benefits, and reinsurance. ING holds top-tier rankings in key U.S. markets and serves more than 14 million customers across the nation. ING U.S. Financial Services includes its ING Life Business Group, which is comprised of ReliaStar Life Insurance Company, ReliaStar Life Insurance Company of New York and Security Life of Denver Insurance Company. For more information, visit www.ing.com

About variable universal life insurance and investments

Variable universal life (VUL) insurance combines the protection and tax efficiencies of life insurance with the investment potential of a comprehensive selection of variable investment options. The insurance component provides the death benefit coverage and the variable component gives you the flexibility to potentially increase the policy's cash value. Many of the variable investment options (VIOs) offered in VUL contracts are similar in name and investment objective to publicly available mutual funds managed by the same investment manager. However, variable investment options are available only as investment options in variable universal life insurance policies and variable annuity contracts issued by life insurance companies. They are NOT directly offered or made available to the public. Due to the differences in size, expenses, cash flows and tax matters, the performance of the comparable mutual fund will be different than the performance of the variable investment option. In addition, past performance of a mutual fund or VIO is no indication as to future performance.

Before investing, carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of the variable universal life insurance policy and each underlying variable investment option. This and other information is contained in the prospectuses for the variable universal life insurance policy and the underlying variable investment options. Obtain these prospectuses from your agent/registered representative or from www.ing.com/us/ and read them carefully before investing.

Variable universal life insurance is issued by ReliaStar Life Insurance Company, ReliaStar Life Insurance of New York, and Security Life of Denver Insurance Company. The principal distributor is ING America Equities, Inc. 1290 Broadway, Denver, CO 80203. All companies are members of the ING family of companies.

Only ReliaStar Life Insurance Company of New York is admitted and offers products in the state of New York.

SOURCE: ING U.S. Financial Services

CONTACT: Phil Margolis of ING U.S. Financial Services, +1-860-723-4783,
phil.margolis@us.ing.com

Web site: http://www.ing.com/us
http://www.ing.com/