When Alain Bokobza set about developing a cross-asset research team at Societe Generale in the mid-2000s, he was entering into the unknown.

"Nobody was going into that field," said Bokobza, who is now head of global asset allocation for the bank. Eight years on, that leap of faith appears to have paid off. The French bank has a first-mover advantage in advising multi-asset funds in a market tipped to double in size in the next five years.