DORSET should brace itself for some job losses in financial services as Britain leaves the European Union, a senior academic has warned.

The comment came after the business secretary mentioned the importance of Bournemouth’s financial sector and said he “hoped” banks would not quit the UK.

Theresa May has said she wants to leave the European single market when Britain quits the EU in 2019.

Financial institutions had hoped the government would continue with something like the “passporting” arrangements that enable them to trade across Europe.

But Professor Jens Holscher, head of department in accounting, finance and economics at Bournemouth University, said it seemed free movement of money would be restricted.

“I’m sure there will be a loss of jobs in the City and also presumably in the hinterlands like Dorset,” he said.

Financial services and insurance currently employ 8,600 people in Bournemouth alone, with around 4,000 at JP Morgan.

Prof Holscher said of JP Morgan’s situation: “I haven’t heard anything yet but it’s clear that there will be some relocations. Trading is a priority but once they’ve moved, some of the back office will move.”

He expected some local jobs to go at the US bank, although the main effect would be in London.

But he added: “Even if a small proportion go, this is high skilled, high earning people. Even if it’s only a few hundred, that’s a loss for the local economy in terms of demand and profit. The main effect is not so much the unemployment rate shooting through the roof, but that those who will go will mean quite a few million in purchasing power going out of the economy.”

During last year’s EU referendum campaign, JP Morgan chairman Jamie Dimon visited Bournemouth with then-chancellor George Osborne to campaign for the Remain side. He warned jobs could move abroad if Britain left the EU, although he has since said that job losses could take place over years.

On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, business secretary Greg Clark mentioned Bournemouth as one of the areas that benefited from financial services jobs.

When asked how worried he was by the prospect of banks moving out, he said: “I hope that they won’t need to do that.

“As Theresa May said in her speech last week, we want to maintain the strongest possible trading relationships, including in services, with the rest of Europe.

“It’s one of the most important strengths of the financial services sector in this country is that it’s good for the whole of Europe.”