Website:http://www.ucobank.com/Uco Bank, formerly United Commercial Bank, established in 1943 in Kolkata, is one of the oldest and major commercial banks of India. Ghanshyam Das Birla, an eminent Indian industrialist, during the Quit India movement of 1942, had conceived the idea of organising a commercial bank with Indian capital and management, and the United Commercial Bank Limited was incorporated to give shape to that idea. The Bank was started with Kolkata as its Head Office with an issued capital of
2 crores and a paid-up capital of 1 crore.The bank, along with 13 major commercial banks of India, was nationalised on 19 July 1969 by the Government of India.
Its name was changed to UCO Bank, in 1985, by an act of Indian Parliament as a bank in Bangladesh existed with the name “United Commercial Bank” which caused confusion in the international banking arena. As of 6 January 2013 the bank had 2550 Service Units spread all over India, with four overseas branches two each in Singapore and Hong Kong. The Bank has 44 Zonal Offices spread all over India.
UCO Bank's headquarter is located on B.T.M. Sarani, Kolkata.
Mr. Arun Kaul is currently the Chairman and Managing director of UCO Bank.
The idea of an Indian supporting bank was conceived of by Mr. G.D Birla, the doyen of Indian Industrial renaissance, after the historic "Quit India" movement in 1942. Soon this nascent idea came into reality and, on the 6th January 1943, The United Commercial Bank Ltd. was established with its Registered and Head Office at Kolkata. The very first Board of Directors was represented by eminent personalities of India drawn from many fields, and this all-India character of the Bank has been assiduously maintained till date not only in the composition of its Board but also in the geographical spread of its 2500 and more branches in the country as well as in its overseas centres in Singapore and Hong Kong. Having traversed periods of expansion and consolidation, the Bank was nationalised by the Government of India on 19 July 1969 whereupon 100 per cent ownership was taken over by the government in UNITED COMMERCIAL BANK. This historic event brought about a sea-change in the entire fabric of the bank's thinking and activities, commensurate with the government's socio-political approach of mass banking as against class banking hitherto practised. The Bank had gone for
200 crores of IPO during the year 2003-04 and is now a listed Company.