The US Securities and Exchange Commission, aided by the US Secret Service, has charged a hedge fund manager and others with insider trading relating to last year's $10.5bn (€8.8bn) acquisition of Charter One by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The SEC made its allegations against Global Time Capital Management, a Massachusetts hedge fund manager, its principal Michael Tom and his brother David, together with Shengnan Wang, a former employee of Citizens Financial Group, the RBS subsidiary which acquired Charter One, and her husband, Hai Liu.