The Wells Fargo-Wachovia marriage is resulting in the creation of 500 new jobs across Georgia.
Atlanta, where some of the hiring will take place, is quickly becoming a hotbed of retail banking job growth as JPMorgan will open ten new retail banking branches in the city and hire 350 in the process.
Usually when a merger takes place, dozens of employees can expect to find pink slips in their inbox. But the Wells Fargo-Wachovia takeover is resulting in a far happier outcome for finance job seekers in Georgia.
"We have roughly 7,000 employees and 300 stores [branches and other retail banking centers] in Georgia," Wells Fargo CFO Howard Atkins told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We're looking to hire. And the interesting thing about Wells is that we've never stopped hiring salespeople in the company. The simple logic is salespeople equal revenue."
Atkins also said that mortgage modification servicing has continued to be a main focus of the company: "Wells is the second-largest mortgage servicer in the country -- one out of every six mortgages is serviced by Wells Fargo.... When the crisis hit, we stepped up that process."
In addition to Atlanta, Wells is establishing offices in New York, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Miami.
Write to Julie Steinberg