Gov't orders 7 savings banks to suspend operations

(ATTN: UPDATES with details throughout) SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's government regulators on Sunday ordered seven ailing savings banks, including major players Tomato and Jeil, to suspend operations following a detailed review of capital adequacy ratios. South Korea has been grappling with salvaging the troubled sector as savings banks have been suffering from deteriorating asset quality due to soured construction loans. Business operations at the seven players were suspended for six months starting at noon on Sunday, according to the financial regulators. The move comes after financial regulators completed an inspection of 85 local savings banks, with a focus on their capital adequacy ratios and debt situations. The financial regulators said the capital adequacy ratios of the affected savings banks came in below 1 percent and their debt outweighed their assets.