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

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.