The Bradford office of US share-dealing group TD Waterhouse is to close with the loss of 80 jobs.

The company, which only moved into city centre premises at the Aldermanbury building in 1999, is blaming a down-turn in the equity market for the decision.

The move is a dramatic turnaround for the company, which spoke only last year of creating 100 new jobs.

The firm says it intends to relocate some staff to its other UK operations in Leeds and Manchester, but acknowledged that there would be a need for redundancies.

Commenting on today's announcement, vice chairman of TD Waterhouse Group Inc, Bharat Masrani, said: "We have reduced costs considerably during the last 12 months but the continuing weakness in the equity markets has led to the decision to close the Bradford site.

"All our employees have made a strong contribution to TD Waterhouse's success and we will be working closely with those affected to assist them in their transition."

Business from the Bradford office would now be 'consolidated' at the two remaining UK sites, he added.

The company will now enter into a four to six-week consultation period with employees.