By Chad Bray @ DealBook @ nytimes.com, June 13

LONDON — Three former traders in Britain have agreed to travel to the United States to face criminal charges that they were part of a conspiracy to rig foreign currency markets.

The criminal case represents a stark contrast in the approach that British and United States authorities have taken in a long-running series of inquiries into whether bankers had colluded to manipulate the trading of currencies, an area that is lightly regulated.

In the last three years, some of the world’s biggest banks, including Barclays, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and the Royal Bank of Scotland, have agreed to pay billions in civil penalties in the inquiries and some banks have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the United States. Several traders also have lost their jobs as a result.

But only United States authorities have brought criminal charges against any individuals. British authorities closed their investigation without any criminal charges last year [....]