The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. building at 1 Wall St. is seen in New York's financial district March 11, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. securities regulator on Monday said that Bank of New York Mellon BK.N will pay more than $54 million to settle charges of improper handling of "pre-released" American Depositary Receipts, U.S. securities representing foreign shares of a foreign company.

BNY Mellon agreed to disgorge $29.3 million in alleged ill-gotten gains, as well as pay prejudgment interest and a penalty, without admitting or denying the findings, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.