US banking giant JP Morgan is to close its private-equity office in Bermuda by the end of this year with the loss of 16 jobs, The Royal Gazette can reveal.According to a company spokesperson, the office will be relocated to Dallas where JP Morgan has similar functions.Eleven full-time employees and five consultants, including three Bermudians, have been given the option to relocate to Dallas or take redundancy packages.“The decision was a very difficult one and it has been very carefully thought out but due to the size and scale of our business and given the current economic climate, it made sense to consolidate,” said JP Morgan spokesperson, Mary Sedarat, in an interview with this paper.The office is JP Morgan’s only business in Bermuda.In April 2010, JP Morgan had acquired the private-equity services operations of Schroders, which was based in Guernsey as well as Bermuda.At the time, it was expected that JP Morgan would keep the private-equity services operation on the Island, working in its current fourth-floor location at Schroders House.In July 2009, the company also moved its Bermuda-based Hedge Fund Services operations off the Island, with 27 staff impacted.