[5] Rai Bahadur Lala Sohan Lal, the first Chairman of the Bank, founded OBC in 1943 in Lahore.

The bank had to close down its branches in the newly formed Pakistan and shift its registered office from Lahore to Amritsar.

Lala Karam Chand Thapar, the then Chairman of the Bank, in a unique gesture honoured the commitments made to the depositors from Pakistan and paid every rupee to its departing customers.

[citation needed] On August 14, 2004, OBC amalgamated with Global Trust Bank (GTB).

The proposed merger would make PNB the second largest public sector bank in the country with assets of ₹17.95 lakh crore (US$210 billion) and 11,437 branches.

[11][12] MD and CEO of UBI, Ashok Kumar Pradhan, stated that the merged entity would begin functioning from 1 April 2020.

[citation needed] The Bank has launched yet another people's participation in the planning process at grass root level essentially to tackle the maladies of poverty.

The Grameen Projects venture aims to alleviate poverty plus identify the reasons responsible for the failure or success.

Formulated on the pattern of the Bangladesh Grameen Bank, the Scheme has a unique feature of disbursing small loans ranging from ₹ 75 (~US$1.50) onwards.

The Bank is engaged in providing training to rural folk in using locally available raw material to produce pickles, jams etc.

[citation needed] OBC launched yet another unique[citation needed] scheme christened 'The Comprehensive Village Development Programme' on the auspicious day of Baisakhi, 13 April 1997, at three villages in Punjab, namely Rurki Kalan (District.