American bank JP Morgan could pull out of Bournemouth (offices pictured) and Glasgow.

As the future of JP Morgan’s new corporate headquarters in Canary Wharf looks uncertain, it is thought that the bank’s offices in Glasgow and Bournemouth could also be under threat.

The American company is said to be on the verge of scaling down its UK operations in the face of tougher taxes.

Chief Executive Jamie Dimon is understood to have voiced concerns about investing in the UK while future costs remain uncertain and JP Morgan was reported to be engaged in high-level talks about abandoning plans for a new headquarters in London.

JP Morgan has been building a European headquarters in Canary Wharf, with a projected final cost of £1.5bn and well in excess of £300m already ploughed into the project.

Also under question are JP Morgan’s offices in Bournemouth and Glasgow. The Bournemouth office, which handles back-office functions, is the biggest single employer in Dorset and any decision to cut it back would be a major loss for the local economy, while the Glasgow-based IT centre is an important source of high-paying, highly skilled jobs.

The bank also revealed last week that it had paid £328m to the Treasury in taxes on bonuses, and it could be hit in future by an activity tax on banking operations and new levies on balance sheets. A higher top rate of income tax and changes to pension payments will also affect many of its employees.

According to newspaper The Telegraph, one source said: “JP Morgan and other banks that survived the crisis relatively unscathed don’t see why they should be penalised in the same way as those that screwed up, and particularly not in a country where they do not necessarily need to have so many staff.”

High-level talks are understood to have taken place between JP Morgan, officials from the Mayor of London’s office and Canary Wharf Group (CWG) over the future of the headquarters, although no decision has been reached.

The bank has made it clear that it now sees expansion being in Asia rather than in London.

 JP Morgan must decide on the future of the Lord Rogers-designed project by the end of 2010 and will have to pay CWG £76m if it pulls out for work already completed.