Three former Barclays traders have been found guilty of conspiring to fraudulently manipulate global benchmark interest rates, in a success for the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

Calcutta-born Jay Merchant, 45, the most senior of the men on trial, was convicted unanimously while 35-year-old British former Libor submitter Jonathan Mathew and former trader Alex Pabon, a 38-year-old American, were found guilty by a majority verdict after a 10-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.

A second Libor submitter, 61-year-old Peter Johnson, had pleaded guilty. The men are expected to be sentenced on Thursday.

Reporting restrictions on the verdicts were lifted on Monday after the jury failed to reach a verdict on two other defendants.

The verdicts come four years after Barclays became the first of 11 powerful banks and brokerages to be slapped with a hefty fine over rate fixing allegations, sparking a political and public backlash that forced out charismatic former CEO Bob Diamond, an overhaul of Libor rules and the criminal inquiry.