Massachusetts Financial Services (MFS), the US fund manager, has agreed to pay $350m(€279m) to settle civil fraud charges with regulators while two of its executives have been banned from senior office for three years and will each pay $300,000 in penalties.

John Ballen, MFS chief executive has been suspended for nine months and Kevin Parke, president, for six months as part of the settlement. Both have been barred from holding top-level positions in the mutual fund industry for three years as punishment for allegedly allowing investors to rapidly trade in and out of 11 MFS mutual funds.