Towers Watson, the investment consultancy, has set out again its scepticism of the funds-of-funds investment model, the traditional route by which pension schemes put money into alternative assets - and it is counselling its larger clients to reconsider their allocations if they have them.

Funds-of-funds managers act as 'middlemen' funnelling investors' money to private equity firms and hedge funds. Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, consultants have become more critical of the way they operate.