Following demand from institutional investors, BT Investment Management (BTIM) is exploring the possibility of launching a new version of its alternatives fund, the Global Macro Fund, that would be more volatile and target higher returns.

"At the moment our Global Macro Fund is a relatively low volatility fund and we are very happy with it, but some investors, particularly on the wholesale side, have said: 'Look, this is great, but what we really like is a more volatile version of the fund, where you have a very similar characteristics, but at a higher risk'," BTIM head of macro strategies Joe Bracken said.

"We are playing with the idea of doing that."

The fund would be largely similar to the current version of Global Macro, but would target higher returns.

"It would still be an absolute return fund, but instead of aiming for cash plus 4 or cash plus 5 per cent, as we do, you would typically want cash plus 10 or cash plus 12," Bracken said.

"It is a very similar idea, but the performance would move out somewhat, and typically you couldn't run it at 4 per cent volatility anymore; it would run at 8 per cent volatility. It depends on what the market demands."

He said if the fund went ahead it would probably be the last product the alternatives boutique would launch for some time.

"We don't believe in having many products, just one or two, and trying to get the best performance out of those," he said.

Bracken joined BTIM in July 2007. 

Prior to that he worked at Dutch pension fund ABP, one of the largest pension funds in the world with more than $240 billion in assets under management.

At ABP, he helped found the global quantitative equities group, which ran $24 billion in assets.

He also had a stint with JP Morgan Securities in London, where was a vice president.

Former BTIM chief executive Dirk Morris was working at JP Morgan at the same time as Bracken, and its was Morris who convinced him to join BTIM.