‘They’ve cut all entry-level jobs’: unlikely seaside town on frontline of AI threat

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Bournemouth became a hub for thousands of finance jobs after the 1980s big bang, but new tech risks hurting Dorset’s economyA few minutes’ drive from Bournemouth’s sandy…

Bournemouth became a hub for thousands of finance jobs after the 1980s big bang, but new tech risks hurting Dorset’s economy

A few minutes’ drive from Bournemouth’s sandy beachfront, on the site of a former farm, lies an unlikely nerve centre of international finance.

Here, miles from the glass towers of London’s Canary Wharf, more than 5,300 staff including compliance officers, analysts and software engineers help process more than $1tn (£750bn) worth of global transactions each day for the largest US bank, JP Morgan.

The sprawling five-hectare (13-acre) campus, which hosted just 650 workers when it opened in 1986, has solidified Dorset’s status as one of Britain’s largest financial hubs outside London.

Now, the financial services industry accounts for 10% of the county’s turnover – the total revenue generated by all businesses in the area – with 2,500 companies, including Nationwide Building Society, the insurer LV=, and the asset manager Canaccord Wealth, collectively employing 24,000 staff, according to the Dorset Chamber of Commerce.

But along with other regional finance centres outside London, from Leeds to Birmingham, and Swindon to Cardiff, it faces an existential threat from AI.

Bosses are considering how the technology can help automate costly human-led jobs, putting at risk a swathe of back-office roles, such as data processors, compliance checkers and entry-level analysts.

The Barclays chief executive, CS Venkatakrishnan, last month announced 5,000 job cuts linked to advances in AI, while another London-headquartered bank, Standard Chartered, said in May it was planning to slash 7,000 roles as it doubled down on artificial intelligence.

AI now poses the biggest threat to the UK’s financial workforce since the 2008 financial crisis, says Caren Evans, a national officer for the Unite union, referring to an era when banks needed multibillion-pound taxpayer bailouts and subsequently embarked on swingeing cost cuts.

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