LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Three fund management employeeshave been arrested in London on suspicion of insider dealing andmarket abuse after police and regulators launched dawn raids ontheir homes and offices in the capital, the second such swoopthis year.
Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) said onWednesday the three men, aged 33, 37 and 39, who are not linkedto any other current insider dealing investigation, were incustody awaiting questioning after six premises were searched.
The men have not been charged and are expected to be releasedon bail later on Wednesday. The FSA declined to comment further.
The three are London professionals working in the fundmanagement industry and are all employed at firms in thecapital, one source with knowledge of the investigation said.
The arrests come one month after the FSA and police swoopedon two men and three women, including a trader at asset managerSchroders, for suspected insider dealing. They werelater released on bail.
Britain's top financial regulator, which has vowed to crackdown on a crime that once went largely unpunished, isprosecuting six others for insider dealing. It has secured 21convictions for the offence, which can carry a jail sentence ofup to seven years.
The FSA's highest-profile insider dealing investigation todate stems from raids in March 2010 that saw seven men arrested,including employees of Deutsche Bank and MooreCapital, in an operation codenamed Tabernula.
Another three individuals were later held as part of thesame operation, although only seven have been charged so far.
The FSA said one of them, Paul Milsom, a former equitiessales trader at the investment arm of Legal & General,had indicated at a pre-trial hearing he would plead guilty toone count of insider dealing.