The bank announced on Tuesday it was axing 82 branches across the country and would cut services in others, including stripping out some counter services.

HSBC, which is part-way through a massive overhaul to slash costs and improve shareholder returns, said at the time it would aim to redeploy staff affected.

However, the source said the closures would result in up to 340 manager roles in branches being cut, with hundreds more junior staff not included in the numbers of layoffs asked to relocate instead.

These redundancies are in addition to 100 senior UK retail roles axed in November.

HSBC declined to comment.

(Reporting by Iain Withers and Lawrence White, editing by Sinead Cruise)

By Iain Withers and Lawrence White