Multi-asset's next chapter: from product label to investor outcome

Multi-asset, as a sector, is stuck in an awkward moment. Higher interest rates have reset the income available from bonds, liquidity is a first-order concern again and AI is redrawing competitive dynamics. Private markets are being fitted into structures designed for daily dealing, fees are under pressure and the product still carries the scars of 2022.

A roundtable of asset owners, consultants and managers in mid-October, organised by the cio investment club, agreed that multi-asset still has a job to do.

The harder question is whether the industry can say what that job is.