THE boss of JP Morgan has warned it might have to move thousands of jobs abroad depending on the outcome of Brexit negotiations.

Jamie Dimon said the company’s future in the UK could depend on a “passport” arrangement which allows banks to sell services throughout the EU.

He also suggested the Brexit decision might be reversible.

The banking giant is Bournemouth’s biggest private sector employer, with 4,000 staff based at Chaseside.

JP Morgan is the second major local employer within days to warn of the impact of leaving the EU. Earlier this week, Lush managing director Mark Constantine said its goods for mainland Europe would be produced on the continent in future rather than in Poole.

CEO Mr Dimon told the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore: “We need a passport rule, like the one we have now in London. If we have that passport after Brexit, we likely would not have to make any change at all.

“But I think the European Union will not accept that. It will put more conditions on the UK and might force banks to become smaller in London. We do not know what is going to happen: the worst case is that we might have to relocate a few thousand people to other offices in the eurozone, though the majority would stay in the UK.”

Mr Dimon said: “In my opinion, Brexit will slow the economy, the Eurozone, Britain, and it will do so immediately, but we do not know by how much. It does not seem that it is going to push everyone into recession but certainly it will diminish business activities. It will create uncertainty.”

Although he did not think Brexit would lead to a global recession, he said Europeans had to act quickly to end the uncertainty – “otherwise the market correction we’ve seen so far will be much worse”.

He said policy-makers should address legitimate concerns behind Britain’s referendum decision, including complaints about bureaucracy and regulation. “Europeans should say: look, there are rational complaints, we are going to fix them for all of Europeans, not for Britain alone, but for everyone else.

“Maybe you can even reverse Brexit. There are always solutions to the problems as long as you have the right people in the room.”

The comments echo warnings Mr Dimon made in Bournemouth ahead of the referendum, when he visited with chancellor George Osborne to warn of the consequences of a ‘leave’ vote.

JP Morgan’s deputy CEO Viswas Raghavan was among leaders from international investment banks who met Mr Osborne on Thursday and agreed to work together to ensure Britain remained an attractive place to do business.