Seoul, March 17 (TIWN) South Korean banks' capital adequacy ratio rose in the fourth quarter of last year due to increased capital and lower risk-weighted assets, financial watchdog data showed on Wednesday.

 The ratio, a barometer of financial soundness, gauges the proportion of a bank's capital to risk-weight assets. Banks are required to maintain the ratio at above 10.5 per cent.  The tier-1 capital ratio, which measures common stock capital and retained earnings, gained 0.37 percentage points from three months earlier to 13.47 per cent as of the end of December.