Putnam Points to Some Lapses

Executives at Putnam Investments did not regard improper trading by several portfolio managers as serious misconduct and were slow to stop excessive trading by several outside investors, according to an investigation of Putnam’s trading practices by independent trustees of the firm’s mutual funds.

But the six-month investigation, whose findings were released Tuesday, also found that in many respects the country’s sixth-largest mutual fund company did a good job of policing improper trading.

The trustees’ conclusions are similar to the results of an internal investigation conducted over the winter by Putnam’s management, led by new Chief Executive Charles “Ed” Haldeman Jr. That probe led to the firing of nine additional employees for improper trading; six investment professionals earlier had been fired.

Putnam, a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos., was the first investment firm formally accused of wrongdoing in the now-widespread scandal over improper market-timing trades.