Recession and scandals fail to dent City expectations of bonus payouts OVER eight in ten City workers expect to get a bonus for 2012, despite Britain's chronic four-year downturn and double-dip recession, according to a new survey. Amid continuing political pressures for a crackdown on banker pay in particular, the report says that nearly half (46 per cent) of those anticipating a bonus believe windfalls will be higher than their awards for 2011. However, in the survey by career site eFinancial Careers of 800 financial market professionals, four out of ten Square Mile workers felt less or "significantly less" confident about the size of their performance-related payouts. "Pay for performance is still ingrained in the culture of financial services in the City," said James Bennett, global managing director at eFinancial Careers. If people have performed well, they still expect bigger bonuses. However, continued pressure from market conditions, overall business performance and public opinion are serving to moderate expectations in the sector. Among those expecting an increase, 39 per cent cited personal performance as the main reason; 19 per cent cited company performance; followed by a change of employer (13 per cent). The survey, done between 18 September and 8 October, showed that nearly one in three City employees believed their bonus in 2012 would be down on last year. Showing that the sputtering economic backdrop is tempering expectations, the survey said 18 per cent of respondents did not expect any performance-related payout for 2012. That compared with 11 per cent last year and 7 per cent in 2010, when Britain had just pulled out of the first part of its double-dip recession. The most optimistic sub-sector on non-basic salary largesse is fund managers, with 53 per cent of them expecting a rise in their bonus in 2012. Asked about their main concern regarding the potential downward influence on total remuneration in the industry, half of respondents cited market conditions, and 26 per cent blamed pressure from the public and politicians. The poll of front, middle and back-office City staff also found employees were more worried about financial services firms voluntarily cutting pay in the long term than by regulatory reforms. The mood on Wall Street is more optimistic, the report said, with 48 per cent of survey respondents saying they expected increased bonuses this year. Regulators have put pressure on banks to rein in bonuses to try and end the high-risk, high-reward culture blamed for the financial crisis. The latest suggestions of surging City pay comes amid a flurry of banking scandals, including the manipulation of Libor - the rate at which banks lend to each other - and the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) and complex hedging products to small businesses. Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King has called for banks to lend more to the struggling UK economy, even if it means lower bonuses for staff and lower dividends for shareholders. Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Britain's financial regulator, has also lambasted "socially useless" banking activities aimed at making money rather than serving customers. However, most of the big British banks, including HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, maintain that attractive remuneration with regard to the going rate is needed to attract and retain banking talent.