And what was not hot in 2009?

Despite all the merriment that 2009 brought to the likes of FICC professionals, high frequency traders and high yield professionals, it wasn't a great year for everyone.

For some people, 2009 was as dour as the final quarter of 2008; for others, it was the end of an era; and for others it was great, except not everyone saw it that way.

Here, therefore, are the big losers of the past 12 months.

1) M&A bankers

Unless you happened to get in on the wild M&A hiring at Deutsche Bank, 2009 wasn't a great year in which to be an M&A banker. By early December 2009, announced M&A volumes in Europe were down 50% on the same period of 2008, and down 67% on the same period of 2009.

Speaking to Financial News, Dieter Turowski, head of European M&A at Morgan Stanley, said, "The past 18 months have been the most turbulent for M&A that I have witnessed in my 21 years at Morgan Stanley. Whereas in previous downturns the collapse has been confined to specific sectors and geographies or attributable to specific factors, this time the effects have been felt across all markets."

The graph below indicates the extent of the nastiness (click to enlarge).

Source: Mergermarket

Needless to say, all this is likely to have a nasty effect on M&A bonuses. Although headhunters say most M&A bankers are optimistic about this year's pay, compensation specialists like Alan Johnson of US firm Johnson Associates are predicting a 15-20% fall in M&A bonuses this year.

2) Goldman Sachs

On one hand, it's been a great year for Goldman Sachs bankers. 2009 profits are likely to hit a record, as is individual compensation; banking analysts at Bernstein Research refer to the firm as, 'holding all the right cards.'

On the other hand, however, things haven't been quite so great. After reaching a peak in October, Goldman's stock has since fallen around 14%. The decline may have something to do with its plan to pay senior executives in shares, or it may be related to the fact that Goldman's image is now slightly tarnished.

Goldman's declining public popularity can be partly attributed to Matt Taibbi's now famous article accusing it of being a 'great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity,' engineering bubbles for its own benefit and controlling everything by virtue of its governmental contacts.

Goldman has made various attempts to rebuff the accusations, but has mostly succeeded in digging itself into a deeper hole. Initial protestations that Goldman is 'painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good' sounded a bit hysterical. And Lloyd Blankfein's quip that he's doing God's work has assumed a life of its own, far beyond its jovial origins.

Goldman's bloopers are in stark contrast to the likes of Bob Diamond, who according to MarketWatch, 'doesn't offer a thought or an opinion that hasn't been considered and rehearsed.'

As a result, Goldman now stands accused of deteriorating into a second tier firm by the likes of Charlie Gasparino.

"Rightly or wrongly," writes Gasparino, "Goldman has begun to symbolize the unholy relationship between big government and Wall Street, which gets bailed out with taxpayer money and earns billions of dollars in profits as unemployment on Main Street rises to 10.5 percent."

3) Bank of America Merrill Lynch

If Goldman's had a bad year, so has BofA Merrill. The bank lost large swathes of senior M&A staff in the first half following accusations that legacy Merrill Lynch bankers were increasingly frustrated with the 'slow and stupid' ways of their new BofA colleagues. In 2009, the combined bank fell to fifth place for global M&A deals by value (down from 3rd in 2008), and 9th by volume (down from 5th in 2008).

Matters were made worse by the seeming impossibility of finding anyone willing to become the new Ken Lewis and take on what came to be known as, the worst job on Wall Street.

However, BofA now has a new chief executive. Alongside Tom Montag, it has also hired numerous bankers (Sanaz Zaimi, Christopher Bae, Marco Piccioni, Christoph Gugelman and Vinit Sahni), most of whom will be starting in the New Year. Needless to say the bank is adamant that it's turned a corner.

4) RBS

It's also been a bad year for RBS. The UK bank, which is now 84% state owned thanks to its enforced participation in the UK government's Asset Protection Scheme, has been driven to an EU-mandated restructuring. This will result in the sale of the lucrative RBS Sempra Commodities trading arm, as well as various branches and its insurance arm.

Worst of all (if you're working for RBS Global Banking and Markets) is the fact that government has now seized control of the RBS bonus pool, and apparently has every intention of cutting it from 1.5bn to 1bn (this was before The Tax was introduced, implying that the final figure could be more like 500m).

RBS leadership have complained of the policitization of the bank and many hundreds of staff departures. The Christmas party budget is reputedly a mere 10 a head.

More positively, the bank is expected to hire vigorously to fill its many gaps in 2010.

5) Private equity funds

It all began so well. There was a time when everyone was saying how private equity would be able to ride out the storm because a) it had big fees guaranteed by funds it had already raised and b) there are lots of bargains to be bought in a downturn.

However, as the year progressed, it didn't quite turn out that way. In September, Guy Hands produced the ominous prognosis that funds' net earnings will decline a minimum of 80% from the peak of 2007. Exits during the year proved impossible, Candover shrunk from 100 to 40 staff, and Mr. Hands fell into difficulties with his EMI deal.

In the midst of all this, there was predictably little demand for the junior analysis staff popular with PE funds prior to the crisis. Instead, emphasis shifted to operational expertise. At the same time, a salary survey by data provider Preqin found that private equity funds have been busy squeezing salaries and bonuses.

6) Private banking

Private banking also had a bit of a nasty year. This time last year, we were delighting in the fact that private banking had come through the crisis in fairly rude shape, with Credit Suisse, Julius Baer and Brewin Dolphin all recruiting.

Credit Suisse continued recruiting relationship managers in 2009, but elsewhere the picture this year was less pretty. Deutsche Bank, UBS, Citi and Barclays Wealth all looked to cut costs this year as falling assets under management put margins under pressure.

However, private banking headhunters say relationship managers were largely spared the axe. "Private banks have been cutting costs, but they haven't been cutting private bankers. Most of the jobs have gone in support roles," says Dudley Edmonds of private banking search firm Culliford Edmonds Associates.

7) Conspicuous prop trading

With prop trading no longer flavour of the day, few banks are willing to admit to indulging in it in its traditional form. UBS, Deutsche, Calyon and JP Morgan heavily trimmed their prop desks in 2008 and the early months of 2009. In October 2009, Marcus Agius the Barclays Chairman said the bank still did prop trading, but only the kind where traders, 'frequently take positions on the bank's behalf alongside the "flow business" they are doing on behalf of clients.'

In Deutsche Bank's recent strategy presentation, it said prop trading had fallen to around 5% of global markets revenues in 2009, down from 10-15% in 2007.

However, prop trading may be coming back - quietly. Morgan Stanley and BofA Merrill Lynch are both building their prop teams according to one headhunter.

8) London

Gone are the days when London could indulge in schadenfreude over New York's engagement of McKinsey to decipher why it was going downhill as a financial centre. The tables have now been turned.

Thanks to the imminent introduction of a 50% top rate of income tax (which will leave The City as the most highly taxed financial centre in the world), the 50% bonus tax, the threat of EU legislation, and general banker bashing, the UK is no longer quite as appealing a financial centre as it was.

According to a recent report by Eversheds, London risks being eclipsed by Shanghai as the world's second biggest financial centre within 10 years. According to another report by The World Economic, Sydney is becoming the place to be.

There's already tangible evidence of London's demise. In 2006, the UK topped the global rankings for IPOs; this year it won't even make the top ten.

9) Recruitment firms

Despite the pick-up in hiring in the latter half of the year, 2009 also wasn't totally great for recruitment firms. Some, like Marshall Warburton and Napier Scott, opted for pre-pack administration (Napier Scott was subsequently acquired by Hannover Search). Correlate struggled with the collapsing share price and departure of the chief executive and finance director at its holding company, and Whitehead Mann was acquired by Korn/Ferry International.

10) Cash bonuses

Even if overall bonuses aren't impacted by the bonus tax, the cash component of bonuses is unlikely to ever be as large again.

Following the G20 meeting in September, the UK Treasury asked banks operating in the UK to defer 40-60% of bonuses. Barclays Capital, for example, this proportion of bonuses will now be deferred, compared to 24% previously.