By Dianna M. Náñez | The Arizona Republic
After a near-death experience, the mortgage industry appears to be making a recovery along with the housing market, translating into new jobs.
Gov. Jan Brewer, flanked by banking executives, state economic officials and Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell, announced Thursday that California-based Union Bank is expanding to Tempe and will hire about 250 people at its new mortgage-operations center.
“We’re hiring now,” said Jim Francis, Union Bank executive vice president. “Nearly every job will be a new job.”
The Union Bank center is moving into a 42,000-square-foot office space at Papago Spectrum, near Washington Street and North Priest Drive. It is expected to open by June.
Francis said that the expansion of the bank’s first mortgage center in Arizona is the result of the improving housing market. The center is part of the bank’s consumer-lending division, which manages primarily residential mortgages in California, Oregon and Washington.
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