HUNDREDS of workers at one of Hampshire's biggest employers are today facing a jobs threat.

Banking giant HSBC has announced that its Southampton office is among the targets for a nationwide jobs cull.

The company revealed last night that as many as 1,400 staff across the country are to lose their jobs.

And bosses say that its Southampton centre, where 1,300 staff are employed, will be among offices facing cuts.

The company has not released figures of how many staff will go at its personal finance section in Southampton, where it has offices in Cumberland Place, Commercial Road, and Ocean Village.

It is thought that up to 500 jobs will be lost at its new headquarters in London's Docklands with further losses at Birmingham and Sheffield.

A spokeswoman said around half of the reduction was likely to come through redundancies while the remainder was expected to result from natural wastage and a six-month recruitment freeze.

HSBC said the cuts were needed to help it remain "competitive" in the face of tough economic conditions and rising costs including taxes and pensions contributions.

The announcement comes less than five weeks after the company awarded its American boss Bill Aldinger a £35 million pay deal. Last year the firm made a £6 billion profit with its European arm, including Britain, making £2.5 billion.

Chief executive Bill Dalton said: "We know this will be a difficult period for some staff and we are committed to helping them through the next few months, including making £1.5 million available to help them adapt to changed circumstances."

Staff were told through a series of meetings with senior managers and offered careers advice and financial planning services. A confidential telephone support line has also been set up.

Among other options, the bank is offering staff voluntary early retirement packages. It expects the 1,400 jobs to go by the end of this year.

Rob O'Neill, national secretary of banking union UNIFI, said: "If the bank stick rigidly to their proposed timescale and cannot reassure those staff remaining about future workloads, this will be seen as no more than a cost-cutting exercise designed to get people off the books before the end of the year in order to increase returns to shareholders."