Asset managers will cut bonuses in a bid to cope with falling markets and revenues in 2009, according to new research, as the funds industry looks for new ways to save money beyond the staff cuts that began late last year.

The impact of the market fall on asset managers' earnings for 2008 was limited because it came late in the year, according to investment consultant Watson Wyatt, which forecast that earnings for 2009, to be paid in 2010, will be much lower if markets remain flat.