Russell Launches Managed Account Strategies™ (Russell.com)

Russell Launches Managed Account Strategies™
New Integrated Managed Account Platform Offers Enhanced, Streamlined Features, One-Stop Solution and Greater Flexibility

TACOMA, Wash. — September 27, 2005 — Russell Investment Group announced today that it has launched Managed Account Strategies™ (MAS), an enhanced managed account platform for financial professionals who are increasingly seeking a solution enabling them to streamline their practices while being able to serve a full range of clients. MAS is available immediately to financial professionals who custody their assets with Fidelity Registered Investment Advisor Group or Schwab Institutional.

MAS combines into one platform Russell's existing mutual fund model strategies and separate account offerings — Russell Asset Management Program (RAMP) and Russell Managed Portfolios (RMP) respectively — with the firm's LifePoints® Funds. In doing so, Russell offers financial professionals the flexibility of a single investor profiling tool and operational process combined with a range of multi-manager investment options that can be tailored to meet the investment needs of individual clients. Specifically, MAS includes proposal generation, account paperwork, agreements, portfolio rebalancing, billing and performance reporting.

"Advisors know that the success of their businesses depends on the ability to comprehensively manage clients via tailored, one-on-one advice, and this is a time-intensive but vital part of how they spend their days" said Michael Winnick, director, Managed Account Strategies. "Now advisors can handle all their clients under the same integrated platform, regardless of investment options, amount of assets or individual needs, effectively dispensing with many of the time consuming operational issues that have plagued firms in the past. This allows them to better serve their clients and to ultimately scale and grow their practices."

When using Managed Account Strategies, financial professionals get a simplified and automated process for setting up new accounts, including automatic brokerage and program form completion, a paperwork quality/control service and a transfer of assets tracking service. In addition, they can deliver to clients Russell's multi-manager approach in a format that best suits their individual needs. This could include:

Russell's LifePoints Funds Target Portfolio Series: Five fully asset-allocated fund of fund choices to meet various risk tolerance needs.
Mutual Fund Model Strategies (formally RAMP): Broadly diversified, strategically designed portfolios aimed at addressing clients' wide-ranging investment needs, including risk-tolerance levels and tax sensitivities.
Separate Account Manager Mixes (formally RMP): Twelve distinct portfolio mixes, each offering a combination of U.S. equity managers, and two tax managed municipal bond portfolios.

About Russell
Russell Investment Group, a global leader in multi-manager investment services, provides investment products and services in 39 countries. Russell manages more than $136 billion in assets for advisory clients as of June 30, 2005, and provides other financial services to clients worldwide representing more than $2.3 trillion. The company is one of the top five companies in DALBAR's 2004 Financial Professionals "General Opinion" survey and ranked second on the Great Place To Work Institute's 2004 list of Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America.

Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual and is headquartered in Tacoma, Wash., with additional offices in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo.

Contact:
Jennifer Tice 253-594-2921
Kerstin Parkel 718-875-2121

Each of the LifePoints® Funds, Target Portfolio Series, invests its assets in shares of a number of underlying Frank Russell Investment Company Funds. From time to time, Frank Russell Investment Management Company may modify the target asset allocation for any fund and/or the underlying funds in which a fund invests. Each Fund expects that amounts it allocates to each underlying fund will generally vary only within 10% of the ranges specified.

Managed Account Strategies is a trademark of Frank Russell Company. Frank Russell Investment Management Company is the sponsor of the Managed Account Strategies Program.

Russell Investment Group is a registered trade name of Frank Russell Company, a Washington, USA corporation, which operates through subsidiaries worldwide. Frank Russell Company is a subsidiary of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.

RFD 05-5380