JP Morgan faces £8billion fire over role in global slump following claims bank deliberately sold high-risk investments Banking giant faces largest fine in its history for role in 2008 crisis Penalty relates to selling of 'high risk' home loans to borrowers who couldn't afford them Bank could still face criminal investigation into conduct By Ruth Sunderland, Associate City Editor Banking giant JPMorgan Chase is braced for a record $13billion (£8billion) fine over its role in the global slump. It relates to the selling of sophisticated investments based on "high-risk" home loans which resulted in the near collapse of the banking system in 2008. The penalty will be the biggest so far paid by a bank over alleged misdeeds in the financial meltdown that has plunged the world's economy into the deepest slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Banking giants JP Morgan face a record fine of £8billion for selling high risk investments which led to the global slump A tentative deal to settle the case with US regulators is understood to have been reached over the weekend. The fine relates to the selling of sophisticated investments based on homeloans, that have been blamed for contributing to the near collapse of the world's banking system in 2008 It is likely to include $4billion (£2.5billion) for consumers and $9billion (£5.5billion) in fines and settlements - well over half the bank's $21.3billion (£13.1billion) profit last year. It is understood that the agreement does not cover a criminal investigation into the bank's conduct, so it would still face possible charges. The problems relate to "mortgage-backed securities" created by investment banks in the run-up to the credit crisis. Problems came when the US housing market ran into trouble and it emerged that some of these securities, that had purported to contain top quality mortgages, were in fact stuffed with sub-prime loans to borrowers who could not afford to repay. JPMorgan is accused of selling these products knowing that many of the loans involved were high-risk. Some of the problems are linked to investment bank Bear Stearns and mortgage lender Washington Mutual, which JPMorgan took over in 2008. The bank was last night unavailable for comment. The latest fine comes after the bank last month paid out a £570million penalty in the UK and admitted wrongdoing in the £4billion "London Whale" trading scandal. That settlement included a £137.6m fine from British watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority, the second biggest penalty ever from the UK regulators. The rest went to US authorities. In the London Whale affair, a group of traders in the firm's Chief Investment Office based in London made huge bets on complex financial instruments and covered up their losses for months. One trader, Frenchman Bruno Iksil, was nicknamed the London Whale due to the size of his bets. Dimon initially dismissed the affair as a "tempest in a teapot." The mounting cost of dealing with the aftermath of the financial crash left JPMorgan nursing a loss in the third quarter of this year. The bank said it has placed a total of $23billion (£14 bn) in reserve to cover its possible legal costs.