The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday announced a $3.6 million settlement with investment adviser subsidiaries of Voya Holdings Inc. for a securities lending practice that harmed mutual fund investors, Investment News reported. In its order, the SEC alleged that between August 2003 and March 2017, Voya Advisers recalled, in advance of the dividend record date, portfolio securities it had loaned out to mutual funds. Recalling the securities early allowed Voya’s insurance affiliates, who were the record shareholders of the fund shares, to take a tax benefit. But the mutual funds and those invested in them through variable life annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies “lost securities lending income during the period when the securities were recalled,” the order states. The SEC said that Voya failed to disclose the conflict of interest created by the recall. More than $2 million of the settlement will go to the harmed mutual funds. Voya’s insurance and annuity division is based in Des Moines.