Allied Life: News Release


                                

          ALLIED LIFE FINANCIAL CORPORATION ANNOUNCEMENT
                Contact Wendell Crosser  (515) 280-4620
                                 
Des Moines, Iowa, January 29, 1998 -- ALLIED Life Financial Corporation (NASDAQ
symbol ALFC) (the "Company") announced today that a complaint has been filed by
Sharlotte G. Harbott, a policyholder of the Company's principal subsidiary,
ALLIED Life Insurance Company ("ALLIED Life"), in Superior Court of the State
of California for the County of Los Angeles, against the Company, ALLIED Life,
ALLIED Mutual Insurance Company ("ALLIED Mutual"), and unnamed persons.  The
complaint, an alleged class action suit, asserts that ALLIED Life fraudently
increased the cost of insurance rates charged to policyholders in breach of the
terms of its universal life policies, its fiduciary obligations, and its
obligations of good faith and fair dealing toward its policyholders and without
adequate notice.  The plaintiff, an insured under a universal life policy
issued by ALLIED Life, seeks actual, consequential, and punitive damages in
unspecified amounts as well as interest, attorney's fees, an accounting for
moneys allegedly improperly charged to policyholders, and injunctive relief, on
behalf of herself and all policyholders of ALLIED Life with similar universal
life policies.  The Company, ALLIED Life, and ALLIED Mutual disagree with the
allegations and intend to vigorously defend this action.



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