Union Banking Corporation - Definition

The Union Banking Coporation (UBC) was a banking corporation in the US which was seized, under the Trading with the Enemy Act, just prior to World War II, The corporation, for which Prescott Bush was the managing director, was alleged to be a Nazi organization.

Adolf Hitler's financiers, the Thyssen family, formed UBC to manage investments in America. The US congressional report described Union Bank as an "interlocking trust" with the German Steel Trust. UBC was also involved in raising funds for Germany and illegally transferring aviation fuel technology to the Luftwaffe.

A July 1942 New York Tribune front page article about the bank was headlined "Hitler's Angel has 3 million in US bank"; ("Hitler's Angel" being Fritz Thyssen). This prompted the congressional investigation which closed UBC. At roughly the same time George H. W. Bush joined the Navy and perhaps deflected some criticism of his father role in trade that helped the German war effort.