BOURNEMOUTH’S biggest private employer, JP Morgan, has been looking for more office space in Dublin as staff wait to see what impact Brexit will have on the business.

The bank, which employs around 4,000 people at Chaseside, is also thought to be considering offices in Amsterdam.

JP Morgan agreed last month to buy an office block in the Irish capital which could accommodate more than 1,000 staff. That move was not expected to lead to job losses in Bournemouth.

It is now reported that the bank is looking for even more space in the city and could lease or buy around 10,000sqft of space – enough for around 770 employees.

JP Morgan chairman Jamie Dimon said last year that up to 4,000 UK jobs could go if Britain voted to leave the European Union. He issued the warning during a visit to the Bournemouth office with the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne.

Mr Dimon subsequently said the final number of jobs lost could be higher or lower depending on the arrangements in place after Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

JP Morgan spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli said: “We continue to evaluate our real estate strategy across Europe so we can support our clients in any scenario.

“As we have said before, we will use the three banks we already have in Frankfurt, Dublin and Luxembourg as our legal anchors.”

Britain currently has a “passporting” arrangement which allows financial services to be traded freely across the continent, but the agreement is likely to end when Britain leaves the EU.

During his visit to Bournemouth last year, Jamie Dimon said the UK would become less attractive to his company if the passporting arrangement ended, creating “years of uncertainty".

“Even the best outcome in my opinion will change the laws on how we could serve our clients around the EU,” he said.

“Today we can serve them here, after a Brexit we can’t do it all here. We would have to start planning for that.

“I don’t know the exact numbers – 1,000, 2,000, it could be 4,000 jobs around the UK.”

In 2014, JP Morgan announced it was spending £28.6million refurbishing its buildings in Bournemouth, which opened in 1986.