Uco Bank, formerly United Commercial Bank, established in 1943 in Kolkata, is one of the oldest and major commercial bank of India. Ghanshyam Das Birla, an eminent Indian industrialist, during the Quit India movement of 1942, had conceived the idea of organizing a commercial bank with Indian capital and management, and the United Commercial Bank Limited was incorporated to give shape to that idea. The bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks of India, was nationalized on 19th July, 1969, by the Government of India. Its name was changed to UCO Bank, in 1985, by an act of Indian Parliament. Currently (2005), the bank has 1700 branches spread all over India, with two overseas branches in Singapore and Hong Kong.
