THE Standard Life chief executive is to forgo bonus payments of Pounds500,000 in an attempt to win back the trust of policy-holders in the run-up to the company's proposed flotation.

Sandy Crombie, who earns Pounds600,000 a year and has a Pounds5.5m pension fund, said he was taking a "principled decision" to give up a payment due under the insurer's long-term incentive plan for 2001-03, as well as his annual bonus for 2004.

Policy-holders have faced three years of falling bonuses, pay-outs, and endowment mortgage projections.

Mr Crombie said that "with the benefit of hindsight", the long-term plan had not been ideally designed, while it was too soon to expect policy-holders to appreciate the results he had achieved in 2004.