The bank also said it needed to make savings to counter rising costs, including higher national insurance and pension contributions.

It said its offices in London, Southampton and Birmingham were likely to be affected, and that it hoped to avoid compulsory redundancies.

However, banking union Unifi said it was worried that the scale of the job cuts could mean compulsory redundancies were inevitable.

'Difficult period'

Some of the job losses in London follow from the consolidation of its workforce in the capital at its new headquarters in Canary Wharf.

The bank said its branches would not be affected.

"This is a painful decision for any business but one we have to make to ensure our future competitiveness," said chief executive Bill Dalton.

"We hope the majority of job losses will be achieved by natural turnover or on a voluntary basis.

"We know this will be a difficult period for some staff and we are committed to helping them through the next few months."

HSBC said it had set aside �1.5m to offer career advice and counselling for workers, and is also offering staff voluntary early retirement packages.

Union concern

Banking union Unifi said it was worried about the short timescale over which HSBC wants to see the jobs going.

The bank expects the 1,400 jobs to have gone by the end of the year.

"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," said Rob O'Neill, Unifi national secretary.

He added that Unifi aimed to ensure there would be no compulsory redundancies.