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Why Multi-Asset Investing Demands Specialist Technology

& Why That Doesn’t Mean Replacing What You Already Have

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Across the investment management landscape, the multi-asset approach is undergoing a quiet transformation. We’re seeing the emergence of new multi-asset solutions groups within asset managers, pension funds, and outsourced CIOs—purpose-built teams designed to take a more holistic, objective-driven view of portfolio construction. 

At the same time, the world’s largest institutions are making bold moves to elevate their multi-asset capabilities through strategic partnerships—like the recent collaboration between Vanguard, Wellington, and Blackstone, bringing together public and private market expertise in a unified offering.

This momentum reflects a broader truth: managing across asset classes, strategies, and time horizons is a discipline in its own right—one that requires technology designed specifically to support it.

But this doesn’t mean existing bottom-up systems are obsolete. In fact, the most effective approach for many firms is complementary: using a specialist multi-asset platform to provide the portfolio-level insight and flexibility that traditional systems simply weren’t built to handle.

The Case for Purpose-Built Multi-Asset Systems

Most legacy investment systems evolved from a single-asset mindset—whether equity, fixed income, or alternatives—with risk, performance, and operations all deeply tied to the security level. 

But managing a multi-asset portfolio is fundamentally different: it’s about aligning assets with objectives, optimizing risk and liquidity across the whole, and creating a dynamic framework that can evolve as mandates shift.

That’s where specialist systems come in.

Objective-Based Risk Modeling

 

Multi-asset portfolios often have long-term, goal-oriented mandates—ranging from delivering CPI+ returns, to meeting liability cashflows, to balancing public and private allocations within defined risk limits. 

A specialist platform supports these needs with forward-looking, objective-based risk models that go beyond traditional tracking error or VaR, capturing real-world constraints like drawdown limits, liquidity pacing, or strategic asset allocation drift.

True Asset Class Flexibility—Down to the Language
You Use



A modern multi-asset system needs to do more than support “equities” and “fixed income.” It must handle infrastructure, hedge funds, direct real estate, private credit, overlays, and more—each with unique characteristics, data sources, and valuation methodologies. But even more critically, it must allow firms to define these asset classes on their own terms.

Specialist systems offer configurable naming conventions, categorisation schemes, and hierarchy structures—so teams can see their portfolios through the same lens used in strategy meetings, client conversations, and board reporting. This flexibility ensures that risk models and analytics reflect how your firm thinks about exposure, not how a vendor decided to structure a schema.

Open Architecture to Complement Your Ecosystem

 

 

 

Technology shouldn’t force a tradeoff. The best multi-asset platforms are built with interoperability in mind—using open, API-first architecture to connect into the broader ecosystem:

  • OMS platforms for trading and execution
  • Bottom-up analytics tools for security-level insight
  • Data warehouses and lakes for centralized reporting
  • Client-facing dashboards, CRMs, and more

This means firms can retain and enhance existing systems, while layering in the capabilities needed for cross-asset portfolio oversight, strategic risk management, and investment planning.

Not Either/Or—But Better Together

Choosing a specialist multi-asset platform isn’t about replacing legacy systems. It’s about acknowledging that the tools that served well in a siloed, benchmark-driven world may not meet the demands of today’s complex, goal-based mandates.

By complementing existing technology with purpose-built, interoperable systems, investment teams can gain a more complete, objective-aligned view of their portfolios—without sacrificing the detail and control that traditional platforms provide.

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