Retirement Trend Researchers Establish Company

Based on their Hearts & Wallets research initiative, Chris Brown and Laura Varas have started a company, Hearts & Wallets, LLC.

Brown of Sway Research in Newton, N.H., and Varas of Mast Hill Consulting in Hingham, Mass., have been working together since 2004 when Varas joined the retirement research practice at Financial Research Corporation – a unit Brown founded in 2003, according to a press release.  Their collaborations have included profiling the retirement income market and analyzing investment-only defined contribution trends.   

“Hearts & Wallets research identifies the need to tailor solutions by consumer life-stage, as well as behavioral and attitudinal segments,” Brown said in the release. “Investor trust is also a huge issue. Investors want to know what they are paying for to trust a firm. In 2011, we will look specifically at advice and the value proposition.”

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In 2011, Hearts & Wallets will continue its multi-sponsor “Explore” focus group series to identify emerging investor behaviors, attitudes and unmet needs.

 

Northern Trust Hires Sales Director for Asia-Pac

Ee Fang Chen has been named Sales Director for Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI) in the Asia-Pacific region.

Based in Singapore, Chen will be focused on business development for NTGI in Southeast Asia, according to the announcement.  

As a senior sales executive, Chen will aim to promote Northern Trust’s capabilities to large, sophisticated institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds, central banks, national pension funds and government entities. He joins Northern Trust from Martin Currie, where he was the business development director responsible for establishing the investment management firm’s office in Singapore. He reports to Fifi Ting, Head of Sales and Client Services in Asia Pacific ex-Japan for NTGI.  

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“With a proven track record and extensive experience working with institutional investors in the region, Ee Fang Chen complements a team of more than 20 investment professionals for NTGI in the region,” said Kevin Hardy, Senior Vice President and regional executive for NTGI Asia Pacific. 

In addition to his post at Martin Currie, Chen has held management positions at Vanguard and Watson Wyatt, according to the press release.

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