Surveys
Advisors Call Multi-Asset Investing To Forefront – Barings

Baring Asset Management has recorded record-high levels of UK financial advisors backing multi-asset investment products.
Almost half of UK independent financial advisors have multi-asset growth funds on their "to-boost" list, compared to a third in the first quarter of 2014, according to Baring Asset Management's latest Investment Barometer.
Mindful of current market volatilities, 36 per cent of IFAs hope to enhance their clients' exposure to multi-asset products, while 29 per cent were "very favourable" towards the investment class over the past year – up from the 19 per cent recorded in last year's first quarter and a new high on the barometer since its inception in 2010.
“The research has highlighted yet again that multi-asset investing is becoming an increasingly popular investment class in the UK. This is being driven by the fact that multi-asset strategies aim to deliver equity-like returns with less risk than holding an equity-only portfolio. The critical skill set in achieving this is dynamic asset allocation, and a willingness to move between different asset classes when necessary,” said Barings' head of UK wholesale distribution, Rod Aldridge.
Aldridge highlighted British pension reforms as a key driver of demand for what he called the low risk, regular income-yielding characteristics of multi-asset investments.
Two in five intermediaries said they would be increasing their clients' exposure to multi-asset income products over the next 12 months, according to the survey.
Baring Asset Management's online research of 114 investment professionals was conducted in December.