all points fund -- normally only available to the super rich -- for investors with just $10,000 to put away.

Hedge funds such as the Alternative Class are normally only available to those with $1 million or more to invest as part of their portfolio.

But the bank has opened the Alternative Class up to those with a minimum investment of $10,000, as part of their portfolio.

"The bank is delighted to be able to offer investors the opportunity of enhancing their portfolio's performance by providing access to a range of the world's leading hedge funds,'' said Wayne Chapman, senior vice president of investment services at the bank.

"Hedge fund managers look to achieve the maximum return for the level of risk taken and are able to do this primarily because they are not constrained by the instruments and skill-based techniques they can use.'' Mr. Chapman went on to explain that within the bank's portfolio they have a long and short US manager who produced a 15 percent return in February with only a 24 percent net exposure to the market.

He said: "It is the sort of level of risk-adjusted return that attracts investors to the hedge fund arena.'' New fund The Alternative Class already has just under $65 million under its management and, according to the bank, offers exceptional value in terms of costs, charging only a single wrap fee of 1.75 percent of the average monthly value of the net assets. This figure covers the custody, advice, administration and management, and, unlike many hedge funds, there is no additional performance fee.

The fund is, according to the bank, designed to focus on strategies which they say their research has shown have the best risk-adjusted returns. This translates to 50 percent of the money being exposed to long/short fairly high risk split between the US, Europe and Asia to minimise risks.

The other half of the investment is in safer lots such as index arbitrage, convertible bond arbitrage, global fixed income arbitrage and mortgage-backed securities. The initial offering price is $100 a share, with the current offering price standing at $111.52. The investment objective is absolute return with limited downside risk. After the initial $10,000 investment, subsequent transactions are listed as $5,000.