Multi-managers slash risk in Q4 as cash reaches record levels

Equities exposure drops to average of 43.2%

Cash and non-investment grade bonds were king for multi-managers in the volatile fourth quarter of 2018, which saw exposure to each asset class ramped up by 3.3 percentage points, according to Harrington Cooper's Proprietary Asset Allocation Tracker.

As markets sold off across the globe, multi-managers slashed equities, particularly US holdings, and overall fixed income exposure. Harrington Cooper's research tool tracked the allocation of 32 balanced risk multi-manager funds and 15 income-focused multi-manager funds, which account for total assets of £14.4bn, over the course of the final three months of 2018. Income models Within income portfolios, exposure to equities dropped by 2.1 percentage points to an average of 43.2%. US equities saw the biggest reduction with allocations falling one percentage point to 4.2% over the q...