March 15, 2004

The city of Phoenix selected Nationwide Retirement Solutions¨ to be the exclusive provider of administrative and record keeping services for the city's deferred compensation plan. Nationwide Retirement Solutions, (Nationwide) is a subsidiary of Nationwide Financial¨ (NYSE: NFS).

"Our goal was to provide our employees and participants a deferred compensation plan with excellent service at the best price. The emphasis Nationwide puts on education and service delivery best met our needs," said Cathy Gleason, Deputy Budget and Research Director for the city of Phoenix. "Nationwide recognizes that investment education is in the best interests of participants, and can be the critical factor in helping them plan for retirement. The city of Phoenix strives to give its employees every possible opportunity to reach their retirement goals. Nationwide's expertise in education, excellence in customer service, Spanish language capabilities and breadth of investment choice make it the right partner for our deferred compensation plan."

Mercer Investment Consulting assisted the city of Phoenix with its search. Mercer's Wendy Young said, "We recommended Nationwide because of its excellent educational capabilities, significant local presence with strong personnel and exceptional experience in serving large plans." The city of Phoenix deferred compensation plan has 15,300 active participants with $494 million in assets. Nationwide will begin managing the plan in the second quarter of this year.

"Nationwide is privileged to be selected as the city's deferred compensation plan provider," said Duane Meek, president of Nationwide Retirement Solutions¨. "Nationwide will go the extra mile for the city of Phoenix and looks forward to a successful partnership with the city and its employees for many years to come."

Nationwide Retirement Solutions¨ provides record keeping, education and administrative service solutions for public employee defined contribution plans that serve more than 1.75 million state, county and municipal employees in more than 8,200 plans. For more than 25 years, the company, which focuses on providing education that goes the extra mile to prepare participants for retirement, has been a leader in providing public'sector retirement plans.