Allied Life:  Intention to Recommend



                                
                                
        ALLIED Life Financial Corporation Announces Intention To Recommend
                   Transaction With Nationwide

                Contact Abernathy MacGregor Frank  (212)371-5999        
                        Joele Frank/Dan Katcher        


Des Moines, Iowa, June 3, 1998 --- ALLIED Life Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:
ALFC) announced that Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company ("Nationwide") has
publicly stated its willingness to acquire all of the outstanding shares of
common stock held by the public shareholders of ALLIED Life Financial
Corporation ("ALFC") for $30 per share in cash.  ALFC's Board of Directors
met on June 2, 1998 and determined that it is in principle prepared to
recommend such a transaction subject to among other things, completion of
definitive documentation and various other conditions, including approval by
the respective Boards of each party, delivery of a fairness opinion by
Fox-Pitt, Kelton Inc., the financial advisor to the Coordinating Committee of
the Board which was appointed to review the transaction, regulatory approvals
and approval by ALFC's shareholders, if required.  The transaction would likely
be structured as a tender offer of all of the outstanding shares of common
stock of ALFC, to be followed by a second-stage merger of a subsidiary of
Nationwide with and into ALFC.

The proposed transaction was recommended to the Board of ALFC by a committee of
directors who are not affiliated with ALLIED Group, Inc. or ALLIED Mutual
Insurance Company, the parent
company of ALFC.
                                                                               
                                                     
ALFC is a holding company that, through its principal subsidiary, ALLIED Life
Insurance Company, underwrites, markets, and distributes life insurance and
annuity products in the United States. Company financial information is on the
Internet at http://www.cfonews.com/alfc.




Ends.