More than one in ten bankers and traders in the UK and Europe could receive no bonus this year, as weaker revenues lead banks to cut payments at the end of the year, according to the Financial Times.

Bonus pools are expected to have shrunk by as much as 20 to 30 per cent at most big investment banks, according to Armstrong International, the European executive search firm.

The report did not spell out whether the bonus shrinkage will also affect private banking pay.

Banks are under pressure to cut bonuses from the UK Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government and not just those banks – as in the case of Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland – which have been bailed out with taxpayers’ money.

The pay of bankers has become a hot political issue and is fraught with symbolism; politicians, especially in the Liberal Democrat side of the coalition government, are looking to curb pay as part of their support for tough public spending controls.