“American and British authorities are shifting to an aggressive new phase in their broad investigation of interest-rate manipulation as they identify potential criminal targets and complete settlements with some of the world’s biggest banks.

In a sign of the escalation, Britain’s Serious Fraud Office made the first arrests in connection with the rate-rigging inquiry on Tuesday.

In a predawn raid, police took three men into custody at their homes on the outskirts of London. One of the men is Thomas Hayes, 33, a former trader at UBS and Citigroup, according to people briefed on the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. The other two men arrested worked for the British brokerage firm R P Martin, said another person briefed on the matter.”

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Read Ben Protess and Mark Scott’s full New York Times article here