ATLANTA (AP) — Wells Fargo has announced plans to hire 200 new employees in the metro Atlanta region.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  reports the San Francisco-based bank is hiring new workers as part of a broader hiring push for more mortgage bankers, small business lenders, loan underwriters and financial advisers throughout the East Coast.

The newspaper reports the bank added about 500 new jobs in Georgia in 2010 and 2011 after it took over Wachovia Bank.

Mike Donnelly, the bank's regional president, told the newspaper Wells Fargo is trying to hire new employees to keep pace with economic improvements.

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