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Despite negative press, structured products still form part of many wealth manager portfolios. Joanna Faith looks into their appeal.

The UK's Serious Fraud Office has revealed it is investigating payments between Barclays and Qatar Holding during the credit crisis, in yet another blow to the bank.

CONTRARIAN

HSBC is in talks to settle with US regulators over a money laundering investigation, but increased regulatory scrutiny has led to S&P cutting the bank's credit rating.

Seven leading global banks, including Barclays, RBS and HSBC, have been issued with subpoenas by the state of New York over the alleged rigging of LIBOR.

Standard Chartered has agreed to pay a $340m (£217m) fine to US regulators after it was accused of trying to hide up to $250bn of transactions with Iran.

HSBC Global Asset Management has combined the funds within its multi-asset International Selection range with the bank's retail consumer World Selection offering.

Fund selectors have revealed the difficulties in allocating to Asia and emerging markets as some of the most popular retail funds close their doors to new investors.

HSBC has put aside $1.3bn (£830m) in UK customer redress provisions and $700m (£450m) relating to US regulatory and legal issues as it reports $12.7bn in interim pre-tax profit.

Stephen Hester, chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, has admitted his bank will face a significant fine over the rate-rigging scandal which has thrown Barclays into the spotlight in recent weeks.