The City's investment bankers face the prospect of another bleak bonus season after a depressed year for dealmaking – with pay consultants and headhunters starting to predict falls of between 15% and 20% in certain business lines.

Jon Terry, UK financial services people leader at PwC, who advises the banking sector on remuneration, said the overall bonus pool across investment banks would be down around 10% compared with last year. But he added that those working in the capital markets businesses of European institutions could potentially see 15% falls.