Ping An chairman takes no pay in '08

Ma Mingzhe, the chairman of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company, China's second-largest insurer, will forgo his salary for 2008 after the company lost heavily on its investment in Belgian-Dutch financial group Fortis, the company's Shenzhen-based spokesman Sheng Ruisheng said.

Ma is China's first chief executive to give up his salary since the global financial crisis deepened in the second half of last year.

Ma's pre-tax salary was 66.16 million yuan, some 4 million yuan of which was basic pay and the rest, bonuses, Ping An's 2007 annual report showed.