PROTECTIVE COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF CHASE INSURANCE GROUP

PROTECTIVE COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF CHASE INSURANCE GROUP

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (July 3, 2006) – Protective Life Corporation (NYSE: PL) (“Protective”) announced today that its principal subsidiary, Protective Life Insurance Company (“Protective Life”), has completed the acquisition of the stock of five life insurance companies that manufacture and distribute traditional life insurance and annuities (the “Chase Insurance Group”) and the stock of four related non-insurance companies from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). Through a series of reinsurance agreements entered into immediately after the acquisition, approximately 42% of the business of the Chase Insurance Group, excluding the variable annuity business, has been reinsured to insurance subsidiaries of Wilton Re Holdings Limited and 100% of the variable annuity business has been reinsured to Allmerica Financial Life Insurance and Annuity Company, a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

The Chase Insurance Group is headquartered in Elgin, IL. It offers primarily level premium term and other traditional life products as well as fixed and variable annuity products. As of March 31, 2006, the Chase Insurance Group had approximately 1.2 million life insurance and annuity policies in-force and statutory reserves of approximately $7.0 billion.

Protective Life Corporation provides financial services through the production, distribution and administration of insurance and investment products throughout the United States. It has annual revenues of approximately $2.1 billion and as of March 31, 2006 had assets of approximately $29.0 billion.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release includes “forward-looking statements” which express expectations of future events and/or results. All statements based on future expectations rather than on historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and the Company cannot give assurance that such statements will prove to be correct. The factors which could affect the Company’s future results include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions and the following known trends and uncertainties: we are exposed to the risks of natural disasters, pandemics, malicious and terrorist acts that could adversely affect our operations; we operate in a mature, highly competitive industry, which could limit our ability to gain or maintain our position in the industry; a ratings downgrade could adversely affect our ability to compete; our policy claims fluctuate from period to period, and actual results could differ from our expectations; our results may be negatively affected should actual experience differ from management’s assumptions and estimates; the use of reinsurance introduces variability in our statements of income; we could be forced to sell investments at a loss to cover policyholder withdrawals; interest rate fluctuations could negatively affect our spread income or otherwise impact our business; equity market volatility could negatively impact our business; insurance companies are highly regulated and subject to numerous legal restrictions and regulations; changes to tax law or interpretations of existing tax law could adversely affect the Company and its ability to compete with non-insurance products or reduce the demand for certain insurance products; financial services companies are frequently the targets of litigation, including class action litigation, which could result in substantial judgments; the financial services industry is sometimes the target of law enforcement investigations and the focus of increased regulatory scrutiny; our ability to maintain low unit costs is dependent upon the level of new sales and persistency of existing business; our investments are subject to market and credit risks; we may not realize our anticipated financial results from our acquisitions strategy; we are dependent on the performance of others; our reinsurers could fail to meet assumed obligations, increase rates or be subject to adverse developments that could affect us; computer viruses or network security breaches could affect our data processing systems or those of our business partners; our ability to grow depends in large part upon the continued availability of capital; and new accounting rules or changes to existing accounting rules could negatively impact us. Please refer to Exhibit 99 about these factors that could affect future results. Please refer to Exhibit 99 of the Company’s most recent Form 10-K/10-Q for more information about these factors which could affect future results.

CONTACTS:
Allen W. Ritchie
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
(205) 268-3500

Chip Wann
Vice President – Corporate Finance / Investor Relations
(205) 268-6461