September 28, 1999
New York, NY

Nationwide Offers Annuity Tied to Long-Term Care
Joseph Gasper, President & COO

Nationwide Financial Services Inc. plans to market a variable annuity packaged with a long-term care product in a pilot program beginning next week in Ohio.

Joseph Gasper, president and chief operating officer of the Columbus, Ohio-based company, said the new product, "InvestCare," is unique to the industry. "It's being postured as a financial-planning product," he told analysts and investors at the life insurance segment of the CIBC World Markets conference on Sept. 28.

"We'll take 60 to 90 days to make sure all the systems are right, especially concerning commissions," Gasper said following his presentation. "Then if all goes well, we'll do a full-bore introduction of the product next March."

Gasper hopes to see InvestCare generate $50 million to $60 million in business next year alone and reach the half-billion-dollar mark within three years.

"We've been looking at this idea for 18 months and we think it's going to work," he said.

As for the general health of Nationwide Financial, Gasper said Tuesday that the financial-services company has "kept its promises" to investors since going public in 1997.

"When we took the company public, we were committed to a 20% sales growth and to get our ROE at the 15% level," Gasper said. "Return on equity is at 16% and, looking at the balance of the year, we're absolutely confident we'll come in and meet that sales growth.

"We believe we are amassing a track record for a young public company," he said.

Nationwide Financial, a leading provider of retirement products and services, is the holding company for Nationwide Life Insurance Co. Nationwide Financial, Nationwide Life and Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Co. are part of Nationwide, a $100 billion Fortune 500 organization based in Columbus, Ohio.