Allied Group: Holds Annual Meeting

                                    
                                    
                                    
Contact:  Jim Shaffer, CFO
          (515) 280-4326                                   
                                    
                                    
                                    
                                    
                 ALLIED GROUP, INC. HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING
                  AND ANNOUNCES SECOND QUARTER DIVIDEND

Des Moines, Iowa, May 13, 1997 -- ALLIED Group, Inc. (NYSE symbol GRP) today
announced stockholders elected four members of the Board of Directors to serve
until the 2000 Annual Meeting:  Douglas L. Andersen, President and Chief
Executive Officer of the Company; Harold S. Carpenter, who has been a director
since 1974 and President of Heartland Systems Inc., since 1970; Charles I.
Colby, who has been a Director of the Company since 1993 and a director of
ALLIED Mutual from 1971 to 1993; and Harold S. Evans, who has been a Director
of the Company since 1974 and of ALLIED Mutual since 1965.

Acting on another agenda item, stockholders approved an amendment to the
Restated Articles of Incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares
of Common Stock of the Company from 40,000,000 to 80,000,000.

A second-quarter cash dividend of $0.17 per common share was declared by the
Board of Directors at their meeting that followed the Annual Meeting of
Stockholders.  The dividend is payable on June 27, 1997 to stockholders of
record on June 12, 1997.

ALLIED Group, Inc. is a regional property-casualty insurance holding company
specializing in personal lines.  The Company's property-casualty subsidiaries
use independent agencies, exclusive agencies, and direct response marketing to
offer products in central and western states.

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