Business

Get ready for another round of musical chairs.

Wells Fargo, the biggest bank operating in the western United States, likely will move up the ranks in Arizona, too, as a result of its surprise $15.1 billion purchase of Wachovia Corp.

The San Francisco-based company could leapfrog Bank of America in Arizona in terms of deposits. JPMorgan leads the state and that isn't likely to change, especially since Chase will pad to its market share with the purchase of Washington Mutual banking operations.

Bank of America had a 19.2 percent share of Arizona deposits as of mid-2007, slightly ahead of Wells Fargo's 19 percent. But the Wachovia deal could add another 4.1 percent, based on the year-old numbers from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that are likely to be updated in coming weeks.

Wells Fargo counts 264 branches in Arizona, and Wachovia has 16.

Wells Fargo employs 14,000 people in the state.

Wachovia had 928 in Arizona as of mid-year.