Wells Fargo & Company recently completed its acquisition of Pacific Northwest Bancorp (PNWB), significantly increasing Wells Fargo’s presence in western and central Washington.

Purchase of the Seattle-based bank holding company and its primary operating subsidiary, Pacific Northwest Bank, increases Wells Fargo’s presence by 760 employees, 57 banking locations and $2.9 billion in assets – approximately $2.6 billion in Washington and $321 million in Oregon. Fifty-two of the locations are along Interstate 5 in western Washington and throughout central Washington, and five are in Portland.

“This gives us a much bigger presence in Washington, and we hope to meet even more of our new customers’ financial services needs,” said James Prunty, regional president for Wells Fargo Community Banking in the Northwest.

Combining Wells Fargo and PNWB systems and products is expected to be completed in Q2, 2004.