Georgios Bouzianis, analyst at FE, comments: "Multi-asset kicked off after the financial crises of 2008."
Demand
But are individuals really asking for more multi-asset choice, or is the proliferation of product launches down to marketing teams picking up on a popular trend?
Chris Leyland, deputy chief investment officer for True Potential, believes there is indeed demand from advisers and clients for such portfolios.
He explains: "Many clients and financial advisers want a one-stop solution for their investments, which is professionally managed for both asset and stock selection.
"They understand the need for diversification by country, asset class, industry and currency to take advantage of all the possible opportunities."
The economic outlook is a key point for Lukas Daalder, chief investment officer for Robeco, who believes the lack of a decent bond market has created a need for diversified portfolio management.
He comments: "I would attribute the rise of the multi-asset market to the declining attractiveness of the core of the fixed income markets - government bonds.
"Faced with extremely low yields, traditional fixed income investors first moved to credit and the high yield market but with diminishing spreads the next logical step would be to move to equities.
"As the step between fixed income and equities is too big, from a volatility perspective, many opted for the multi-asset spaces.
"Additionally, multi-assets offer a much more diverse risk-return spectrum than either equities or fixed income can offer on a standalone basis."
Global financial crisis
Many respondents to this guide cited the global financial crisis of 2008 as the ignition that sparked the rise in multi-asset funds in the UK.
Ben Willis, senior investment manager for Whitechurch Securities, says: "Before the global crisis, particularly in the years leading up to it, advisers were comfortable constructing and running client investment portfolios.
"Asset classes were displaying traditional traits in terms of diversification and correlation, and the prerequisite risk characteristics. But this investment universe was completely turned on its head after the crisis, and with the advent of emergency interest rates and unprecedented quantitative easing, the traditional relationship and behaviour between asset classes broke down."
He says navigating this new quantitative easing-fuelled investment universe made many advisers unsure as to where they should be investing in a risk-controlled manner for their clients.
To reduce the risk of making the wrong investment decision in challenging market environments, many realised it was safer to leave this to the investment professionals running multi-asset solutions.
Regulation
The Retail Distribution Review (RDR), which caused a seismic shift in the way financial advisers recommended, and were remunerated from, investment products, was also a contributing factor.
