A steady return of between 9 and 11 per cent for the Assured Fund is currently outperforming any other investment vehicle in today's market conditions, according to fund manager Policy Selection.

Returning at least three times the Bank of England base rate, the open-ended fund, which invests in US senior life settlement policies, has delivered steady performance despite unprecedented levels of volatility over the last year, the firm says.

'Investors face tremendous difficulties right now, with Bank of England base rates at their lowest level in half a century,' says Andrew Walters, Policy Selection's finance director. 'With equities unlikely to stage any meaningful recovery until 2010 while markets rebuild their confidence, traded life settlement policies are the only game in town.

'While the sterling corporate bond market is enjoying a modest revival, currently yielding nearly 9 per cent, the market remains vulnerable to massive volatility, and this is frankly an asset class that can just as easily head dramatically south.'

Assured Fund's investor base comprises institutional investors such as pension funds, hedge funds, private banks and life insurers, as well as private investors that account for half of the fund's total holdings.