U.S. SEC fines Citibank more than $38 million for mishandling ADRS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Citibank <C.N> will pay more than $38 million (29 million pounds) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for abuse in handling American Depositary Receipts (ADRS), the regulator said in a statement on Wednesday.

The SEC found that Citibank falsely provided U.S. securities that represent foreign shares, or ADRs, to brokers in thousands of premature transactions. Those brokers and customers did not have the actual number of foreign shares to support those ADRs, the SEC statement said.

The bank did not admit or deny the SEC's findings on its practices, but agreed to pay the fine and additional fees related to the abuses.

(Reporting by Katanga Johnson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)