LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - London investment bankers' bonusesfor 2015 are likely to fall by up to 9 percent on average from ayear earlier after revenues slid in the second half of thisyear, a study said on Monday.
Emolument, which benchmarks salaries across the industry, said bonuses for traders and other staff in fixed income,commodities and currencies (FICC) were likely to fall about 9percent from payments made for 2014.
Bonuses in the advisory and underwriting division werelikely to fall by 3-5 percent from 2014, Emolument said, after arecord year for merger and acquisitions was countered by a sharpfall in initial public offerings.
Equities traders and staff could buck the trend, however,and see a 2-3 percent rise in bonuses after a recovery involumes from a weak performance in 2014, the survey said.
Revenues at investment banks are expected to fall 2 percentfrom 2014, led by a drop in FICC trading income.
Bonuses typically reflect those trends, but banks includingDeutsche Bank, Barclays and Credit Suisse are also under pressure to cut costs. New DeutscheBank Chief Executive John Cryan said last month pay in theindustry was still too high.
Bonus pools could also be cut where banks have paidmisconduct fines, while some firms are increasing fixed pay tocompensate for lower annual bonuses.
"With ever more restricted bonus pools, it may be thatdoughnuts (zero bonuses) become more commonplace, as banks limitsubstantial bonus payments to key outperforming staff theysimply cannot afford to lose," said Emolument's Alice Leguay.
Emolument based its forecasts on the correlation betweenbankers' bonuses and deal volumes for the last three years.
Bonuses for bankers, typically paid between January andMarch, remain high compared to other industries.
Emolument estimated a managing director in equities canexpect to get a bonus of 361,000 pounds ($545,579), whiledirectors across the investment bank should get 114,000-151,000pounds and associates can expect 28,000-32,000 pounds.
Pay on Wall Street is expected to follow a similar patternto Europe. Pay consultancy Johnson Associates last monthforecast bonuses in FICC will fall 10-20 percent from a year agoand underwriting bonuses are likely to fall 5-15 percent, whileequities bonuses will be flat to up 10 percent and bonuses onM&A desks should rise 15-20 percent. ($1 = 0.6617 pounds) (Reporting by Steve Slater; editing by Susan Thomas)