BRUSSELS, May 20 (Reuters) - European Union antitrustregulators charged on Tuesday HSBC, JPMorgan and Credit Agricole with rigging financial benchmarkslinked to the euro.
The move followed a record 1.7-billion-euro ($2.3 billion)fine levied on six banks including Deutsche Bank,Royal Bank of Scotland and Citigroup last Decemberfor similar offences.
"The (European) Commission has concerns that the three banksmay have taken part in a collusive scheme which aimed atdistorting the normal course of pricing components for eurointerest rate derivatives," the EU competition authority said.
($1 = 0.7289 Euros) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by John O'Donnell)