As the financial world continues to be buffeted by the fallout from the sub-prime-induced credit crunch, finding a safer place to invest money and still make returns in double-digits remains uppermost in the minds of institutions and high-wealth individuals.

Offering an interesting alternative is California-based Private Wealth Fund, led by Peggy Gan who recently visited Bermuda to spread the word and gauge interest in the "hard money" lending and investing vehicle for which she is founder and chief executive officer.

Institutes such as banks, insurance and reinsurance companies and wealthy individuals are the potential clients for the West Coast hard money investment scheme, which has an entry level of $150,000 but generally expects to see institutional investments of $1 million or more.

While in Bermuda, Ms. Gan explained how the fund works and how it is a more secure investment vehicle than those that include sub-prime-type collateral debts.

"We are equity lenders, not credit lenders. It appeals to insurance and reinsurance companies because the investments they make have to be conservative," she said.

The "hard money" element comes from the security of the assets that underpin the private money. It is underwritten on real estate that is lower than 75 percent loan-to-value, and with the Private Wealth Fund holding the title deeds to those properties as security should a loaner default.

Because of the much deeper loan-to-value benchmark, Ms. Gan said the fund is not troubled by the risky elements of sub-prime lending.

"It is very different from subprime lending. Our loans are usually for two or three years. It is private money with a trust deed (title deed) so it is 'hard money'. It is one of the most conservative type of mortgages out there."

She said that unless a borrower can show they own around 45 to 50 percent of the equity of their property, her company walks away from any loan deal.

"If a borrower fails to pay (their loan) we can foreclose on the commercial property (for which the title deeds have previously been assigned to the company as collateral). We recover the value of the loan because the loan-to-value is deep."

The company makes money as a direct lender, it is a licensed California Finance Lender with a permit to raise and manage $750 million, said Ms. Gan.

Institutional investors, such as those the fund would like to attract from Bermuda, can benefit from its business by investing money and seeing returns that the company expects to figure in the range of nine to 12 per cent per annum.

That compares favourably to returns available to institutions through Treasury Bonds.

Institutional investors, such as banks and insurance and reinsurance companies, become - for all intent and purposes - hard money investors but without any of the hassles because the deal management is done by Private Wealth Fund.

Ms. Gan said: "I hope to promote the fund in Bermuda. After all, Bermuda is the risk capital of the world and major insurers and reinsurers do backflips for returns of six-and-a-half percent or more, providing they are conservative investments."

Private Wealth Fund is a California limited liability company whose manager is Private Money BanCorp, a California corporation.

Fund loans are serviced by MultiCorp Holdings, a Private Money Fund Servicer. The Servicer and the Fund are licensed California finance lenders.

Private Wealth Fund website is at http://pwfllc.com/index.html