Investment bankers on Wall Street shouldn't assume this year's lavish bonus season will be repeated when bonuses are set for 2022.

That's the message of the latest issue of a widely acclaimed report from compensation consultant Johnson Associates.

In particular, premiums for bankers involved in underwriting could contract by more than 45 percent, according to Johnson Associates.

According to the report presented on Thursday, those who advise on mergers and acquisitions have to be prepared for about a quarter less.

"2021 was a fabulous year and now this is a real blow," Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, told Bloomberg.

"We've had shrinking bonuses before, but when you factor in inflation, I think it's going to be particularly painful." Firms down 43 percent.

Persistent inflation, fears of recession and global turmoil such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine have resulted in violent market volatility and prompted clients to hold back.

In addition, the battle for the top bankers has cooled down as the financial institutions are looking more at costs.

The situation is different with the dealers.

Those in the equity divisions could see bonuses up 10 percent, while those in fixed income could see a 20 percent increase as the same market turmoil drives up trading revenues.

"This year, dealers will be subsidizing some of their investment banking peers," Johnson said.

In other areas of Wall Street, too, the bonuses will be mostly lower.

Fund managers (asset managers) could experience a bonus decline of 20 percent, for wealth managers (wealth managers) the bonus bag should be 15 percent narrower on average, according to Johnson Associates.

The experts see 5 percent less bonus payments for large private equity firms and a minus of 10 percent for smaller ones.

With hedge funds, there will be differences depending on the strategy.

While there are still a few months to go before the end of the year, Johnson said, "it's very, very unlikely that there will be a big comeback.

Wall Street is going up and down - and this year we're having an ebb.”