Wells Fargo may be a new bank in Gloucester, but not on the national level.

Wells Fargo merged with Wachovia Bank several years ago, said Andrew P. Mullins, manager of the Wells Fargo bank on Route 17, Hayes. On Aug. 6, Wells Fargo changed the name of the Wachovia offices it had acquired in Virginia.

In the weeks prior to the conversion, Mullins said the local staff trained to learn the Wells Fargo system and its expanded banking and other financial services. The merger with Wachovia made Wells Fargo the nation’s largest bank, Mullins said, with branches in 39 states.

Based in San Francisco, Wells Fargo began as an East Coast bank in the 1850s and later transferred its operations to the West Coast. A company history said that Wells Fargo helped operate the Pony Express during the 1860s.

Wells Fargo offers full banking services, including traditional savings instruments such as certificates of deposit. But the local bank and the several thousand other locations Wells Far...