Brokers' profits, compensation fall

The latest figures for 2008 from 50 stock brokerage firms show an average fall in profits of 68.91 percent and an 11.99 percent cut in annual executive pay.

Analysts said the pay cut in 2008 would have been much deeper if not for deferred payment of 2007 bonuses.

Of the 50 firms, five said their average executive compensation was above 1 billion yuan, with Guotai Jun'an Securities Co topping the list with 3.07-billion-yuan total staff payout, up 96.8 percent from a year before. The other four were Guangfa Securities, China Merchants Securities, CITIC China Securities and Guoxin Securities.