The boss of Ping An Insurance Company had the highest salary of executives at domestically-listed firms last year, a Shanghai consulting company said today, a Beijing-based newspaper reported.

Ma Mingzhe, the 55-year-old president of Ping An, had a salary of 66.16 million yuan (US$9.45 million) last year, the report said. He earned at least 40 million yuan more than the second-ranked executive, the report said, citing Shanghai Realize Investment Consulting Co.

It was the ninth such annual ranking of the top 20 highest paid bosses and was based on the annual reports of listed companies, the report said.

Frank N. Newman, president of Shenzhen Development Bank, ranked second with a salary of 22.85 million yuan. Dong Wenbiao, president of China Minsheng Banking Corp Ltd, ranked third with 17.84 million yuan.

The top three bosses were the only ones with salaries in excess of 10 million yuan, the report added.

Senior executives had an average annual salary of 504,309 yuan last year, 44 percent higher than in 2006, the report said.

(Shanghai Daily May 29, 2008)