BEIJING (AP) — China has tightened controls on pay for its top bankers, becoming the latest country to try to reduce financial risks by linking management of risk more closely to compensation.

Banks must withhold at least 40 percent of bonuses for top executives for a minimum of three years and can recover payments if poor performance causes heavy losses, the China Banking Regulatory Commission announced yesterday.

China's banks avoided the mortgage-related turmoil that battered Western institutions but Chinese regulators are trying to improve risk management. Bank bonuses will be limited to more than three times the level of an executive's base salary, the commission said.

China's top bankers are paid modestly by Western standards but receive many times the salary of the average Chinese worker.