BofA hires more than 45 small business bankers in Ga.

Bank of America has hired more than 45 small business bankers in Georgia, including 35 in metro Atlanta, the Charlotte-based conglomerate said Tuesday, as part of a pledge to add 1,000 such positions nationwide by the middle of this year.

Bank of America continues to grapple with mortgage and foreclosure issues and other post-recession problems and has previously announced plans for significant job cuts and other streamlining over several years.

But bank CEO Brian Moynihan promised in 2010 to focus on small business lending, and adding small business bankers. The bank on Tuesday also announcing similar hiring efforts in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Businesses with fewer than 100 workers account for more than half of the total workforce in Atlanta, the bank said, citing U.S. Small Business Administration data.

Bank of America said it made $6.4 billion in new loans nationwide to small businesses in 2011, a 20 percent increase of new credit to small businesses.