BUSTED BONUSES

Bankers’ pay may fall 30%

It’s going to be an ugly bonus season on Wall Street.

Banker bonuses are poised to fall by as much as 30 percent from a year ago after the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged financial markets in March and April, according to a new report.

The survey by compensation consultant Johnson Associates based its analysis on “a cautiously optimistic” bounceback in the second half of 2020.

“It’s going to be a second kick,” the report’s author, Alan Johnson, told The Post. “You had a hellish year and your pay is going to be down.”

The outbreak spurred a 4.8 percent drop in gross domestic product in the first quarter and has forced some 33.5 million Americans to file for unemployment benefits.

For Wall Street professionals, most of whom are working from home, bonuses make up a significant percentage of their annual pay, and many have been fearing big cuts.

The pain will not be felt equally on Wall Street, Johnson adds.

Johnson sees the virus hitting commercial bankers the hardest, as a wave of defaults on all kinds of loans will punish retail banks and shrink bonuses by 25 to 30 percent.

Investment bankers, who have seen dealmaking stalled by the shutdown, will fare only slightly better, with compensation dropping from anywhere between 10 percent and 25 percent. As to hedge funds, Johnson sees a drop from 10 to 15 percent, but not all fleece vesters should be relieved to hear that.

“There’s going to be a wide disparity between the people who got it right and the people who got it wrong,” Johnson warns.

That sentiment is echoed inside the hedge fund industry, where bonuses often make up a large percentage of annual compensation.

“Looking around, a lot of people should see keeping their jobs as a bonus this year,” said one hedge fund trader. “Considering how badly some funds played the downturn, I’m shocked that bonuses are only going to be down 15 percent. I’d take that right now.” tmenery@nypost.com