After a big 2021 increase in asset managers' bonus spending, the picture for fundsters looks more mixed for 2022, according to the folks at a financial services-focused compensation consulting firm.

Asset managers' "incentive funding" rose between 12 and 20 percent last year (compared with 2020), according to the recent "Financial Services Compensation" presentation released last week by the team at New York City-based Johnson Associates. (The 20-page presentation covers a host of compensation trends, issues, and suggestions.) That's in line with the 12 to 18 percent range they expected back in November and the 10 to 15 percent range they expected three months earlier.

The Johnson Associates team credits the jump (in asset managers' bonuses and across other financial services areas) to an "optimistic 'bubble' in financial services and [the] broader economy." They also note that asset managers have benefited from "surging markets," even as active managers still face fee pressures and outflows.

When they look ahead, the Johnson Associates team predicts that base salaries in financial services will rise between five and six percent this year. (Their forward-looking predictions are for financial services in general, not asset management or other areas in particular.) At the same time, they foresee a bonus pullback this year, specifically a drop of 10 to 15 percent in incentive pay. The net effect, they estimate, will be an overall compensation drop from 2021, yet with bonuses "still likely higher than 2020." 

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