The Financial Services Agency on Friday ordered Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. to suspend part of its operations following the insurer's repeated failure to pay legitimate insurance claims.

In the most severe punishment imposed on a life insurance company to date, the FSA order bans the scandal-tainted insurer from selling new products for two weeks starting Nov. 4 and from developing new life insurance products indefinitely until the FSA is satisfied that management improvements have been made.

"We confirmed that Meiji Yasuda seriously breached legislation and suffered from a deep-rooted problem of compliance and business administration," a senior FSA official told reporters.