Staff at Bear Stearns in London were yesterday reacting to the bank's emergency sale to JP Morgan with a mixture of resignation and anger, blaming US management for a failure that "could have been avoided" while fielding telephone calls from headhunters amid fears that the majority of its UK business - comprising 1500 staff - could be closed down.

Staff outside the bank's UK offices in London's Canary Wharf said JP Morgan executives were already circulating in the building. One said: "The place is crawling with JP Morgan auditors testing our risk controls". They said the US bank is expected to begin interviews with staff next week.