Banking group Barclays is cutting 1100 jobs at its UK back office processing centre in Poole over the next three years in an effort to improve efficiency.
The move is part of Barclay's plans to cut costs and improve efficiency by automating functions such as payment processing.
According to press reports, around 400 contract workers and 200 temporary staff will be axed - in addition to the 1100 permanent roles - from the operations in Poole, which handles back-office functions such as payment processing, human resources and IT support.
Around 400 of the jobs will reportedly be moved to offshore centres, while around 200 positions will be relocated to other sites in the UK.
Unite, the newly formed union which incorporates finance branch Amicus, expressed "severe concern" about the "large reduction of jobs in Poole".
Steve Pantak , Unite official, says the union "will be working with the bank to ensure the maximum number of redeployments and voluntary redundancies".
However the union welcomed news that Barclays would be moving to a new, smaller building in Poole, so ending speculation it would leave the area altogether.
Barclays says the cuts are not connected to its proposed £45.7bn takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro.