STAFF at JP Morgan in Bournemouth are thought to have escaped plans to move hundreds of jobs abroad.

The bank has revealed it is planning to transfer many London-based roles to expanded offices in Dublin, Frankfurt and Luxembourg as it prepares for Brexit.

The initial shake-up is to prepare for day one of Britain’s life outside the European Union, with more changes possible later on.

But the Daily Echo understands the initial moves would not affect Bournemouth, where the bank’s 4,000 staff make it the town’s biggest private sector employer.

Daniel Pinto, head of investment banking, said the company was preparing for the UK to lose easy access to the EU’s single market in financial services.

He told Bloomberg: “We are going to use the three banks we already have in Europe as the anchors for our operations.

“We will have to move hundreds of people in the short term to be ready for day one, when negotiations finish, and then we will look at the longer-term numbers.”

Ahead of last year’s referendum on EU membership, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon visited Bournemouth and warned that up to 4,000 UK staff could be relocated abroad if Britain left the EU.

Mr Dimon said earlier this year that the final number could be higher or lower, depending on how the government’s negotiations went.

Banks are concerned about the loss of “passporting” arrangements which allow a free trade in financial services across Europe.

Mr Pinto said: “We have to plan for a scenario where there is no UK-EU passporting deal, and we have to move a substantial portion of our business to continue serving our European clients.

“We’ll have to wait to see what kind of deal can be achieved and see what we need to do from there.”

Britain is due to leave the EU in March 2019 after the government triggered the Article 50 process for withdrawing from the union.

JP Morgan announced in 2014 that it would spend £28.6m on its Bournemouth offices. Earlier this year, it applied to renew planning permission for its temporary Wiltshire building on the site.