Morgan Stanley is planning to pay out 10 to 25 percent less bonus this year to its employees, owing to volatile market conditions, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the situation.

Several managing directors who manage groups of employees have been informed of the bonus estimates, which are preliminary and subject to change in the coming weeks, the person told the paper.

The cuts would affect traders, back-office staff and other major employee groups. Also, top executives might be persuaded to take a lesser bonus this year, the Journal said.

However, strong performers in the equity capital markets and investment banking could be spared from the planned bonus cuts, according to the Journal.

If the bank experiences an increased revenue flow in the last few weeks of December, bonus reductions might be smaller than currently expected, the paper said.

All indications are that pay will be down. (James) Gorman has been pretty articulate about that, one Morgan Stanley official told the Journal. James Gorman is the Chief Executive of Morgan Stanley.

The company could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Morgan Stanley