Bonuses in London’s wholesale financial services sector are set to halve this year to a level not witnessed in nearly 15 years, according to new figures that will compound the gloom for an industry where the employment outlook is worse than at any time since the mid-Nineties.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research, the independent economic consultancy and forecaster, estimates that City bonus payouts for this year will plunge by 48% to just £2.3bn, following a decline of more than a third last year.