Wells Fargo Lists Branches to Be Closed : Banking: It will shut seven Great American branches and seven of its own when it acquires the California branches of the ailing thrift.

Wells Fargo Bank said Wednesday it plans to close seven Great American Bank branches and seven of its own branches in San Diego County as a result of its planned acquisition of Great American’s California branches.

However, the bank insisted that it has no plans to lay off any of its or Great American’s branch employees as a result of the deal, now set to close next month. Nor does Wells Fargo plan to lay off any of the 900 employees at Great American’s operations center at National City, which it is also acquiring.

After the branch closings, the deal would give Wells Fargo a total of 76 San Diego County offices----57 Great American branches added to 19 of its own----the largest local presence of any financial institution. Currently, Wells Fargo operates 489 branches in California.

Last July, Wells Fargo said it would pay Great American $492 million for the troubled savings and loan’s 130 California branches and that it expected to close an unspecified number of branches as a result of consolidation.

On Wednesday, Wells Fargo said it has determined that a total of 23 Southern California branches--14 of them Great American offices and nine Wells Fargo branches----would be closed as a result of the combination.

Of Great American’s 3,580 employees, Wells Fargo will inherit 1,892 employees as a result of the purchase. Although the first phase of the acquisition involving Great American’s Southern California branches will close next month, the branches’ conversion to Wells Fargo offices will not occur until early next year, a bank spokeswoman said Wednesday.

A Great American spokesman said Wednesday that the S&L; has cut 137 jobs, most of them administrative positions, from its payroll since mid-July and that an undetermined percentage of 547 administrative employees may be laid off in coming months.

San Diego County branches to be closed include Great American offices in Oceanside, La Mesa, Encinitas, Fallbrook, Rancho Santa Fe, Rancho San Diego and San Ysidro, as well as Wells Fargo offices in Del Mar, La Mesa, La Jolla, Rancho Bernardo, University Towne Centre, Vista and on Balboa Avenue in San Diego.

Also to be closed are three of Great American’s 12 branches in Riverside County and four of its 16 branches in Orange County. Wells Fargo is also closing two of its Orange County branches.