Janus' EVP Institutional Services Goes on Leave

The leave of absence was apparently taken to provide the company an opportunity to evaluate the role within the company, “in light of the ongoing investigations of the mutual fund industry and related regulatory matters.”   In addition to his executive vice president role, Lars Soderberg, who also serves on the Company’s Management Committee, according to a news release.

In his position as executive vice president,Soderberg was in charge of all sales for institutional investors at Janus and was part of the management committee, the most senior committee at the company.

Soderberg’s leave of absence marks the latest black mark on the record of the Denver-based investment firm.   Last month, a CBSMarketWatch report spoke of a rumored settlement between Janus and regulators that would include a requirement that Janus head Mark Whiston resign because an internal Janus memo shows that he and other senior managers knew about the trades in November 2002, well ahead of the current market timing and late trading investigation that began in September 2003 (See  Whiston Aware of Market Timing Before Current Investigation ).

Prior to the latest release, Janus, one of the first mutual fund firms named in the expanding fund trading scandal, divulged 12 arrangements that allowed for market timing across its domestic mutual fund business in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing last November following an internal review (See  Janus, Colorado in Settlement Talks ).