By Claire Makin

Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild likes to point out that during the financial crisis, investors in its Prifund Alpha funds of hedge funds suffered no gates, no side pockets, no NAV suspensions and no Madoff. Nor did the Geneva-based bank see any need to alter its investment policy or terms, and continued to offer monthly redemptions.

Given the panic conditions, that was no mean feat for any fund of funds group. But for one as large as Banque Privée's it is quite an achievement. The bank runs $11 billion in its Prifund Alpha range and other funds of funds, and invests in some 220 underlying managers. The largest fund in the range, Prifund Alpha Uncorrelated, now tops $2 billion in assets.

But Alexandre Col (right), who heads Banque Privée's investment department and sits on the bank's executive committee, dismisses any suggestion that this is too much to...