Almost half of advisers have been encouraging their clients to invest in multi asset products in response to the current market volatility, a study suggests.
According to the latest Baring Asset Management Investment Barometer 47% of intermediaries have done so.

This was up from 36% in the last Barometer and the highest since the question was first asked in Q2 2013.

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The latest Barings’ quarterly research, which canvasses investment sentiment from UK financial advisers, found that advisers’ preference for multi asset products remained very high:

• 73% of respondents said they are currently either ‘very’ or ‘quite’ favourable towards multi asset growth products
• 68% were either ‘very’ or ‘quite’ favourable towards multi asset income products.

This compares to 57% who said in Q1 2014 they were either ‘very’ or ‘quite’ favourable towards multi asset products generally and 67% in Q1 20135.

Barings’ research showed 36% of respondents believed their clients should increase exposure to multi asset growth products.

Only 5% believed they should decrease exposure. This compared to 25% who believed clients should increase exposure to developed market equities.

Rod Aldridge, head of wholesale distribution for EMEA, Baring Asset Management, said: “Sentiment towards multi asset investment products, including ones focused on income, is clearly strong and we would expect this to continue as the benefits of a multi asset approach become ever more apparent – particularly in light of current market volatility.”

This quarter’s research from Barings also found that a quarter (27%) of respondents expected retail investors to increase their portfolio exposure to multi asset funds over the next 12 months by between 10-19%. One in seven (15%) expected this to rise by more than 20%, while just 2% expect multi asset exposure to fall over this timeframe.