China's ZTE chairman apologises, pledges reboot after U.S. reprieve - source

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The chairman of China's ZTE Corp apologised to staff and customers on Friday after the technology firm agreed to pay a $1 billion fine to the United States to end a crippling ban that had brought the firm to its knees.

China's No. 2 telecoms equipment maker also agreed on Thursday to overhaul its leadership in exchange for the lifting of a ban on buying parts from U.S. suppliers.

In a memo sent to staff, Chairman Yin Yimin apologised to clients, shareholders and business partners and said the firm would look to learn from its errors and hold those responsible accountable, a company source said.

"This issue reflects problems that exist with our firm's compliance culture and at management level," Yin wrote, according to the source, adding the incident was caused by the mistakes of a few ZTE leaders and employees.

(Reporting by Sijia Jiang in HONG KONG; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Stephen Coates)