United Commercial Bank, a Bay Area bank with branches in the East Bay and South Bay has been seized by regulators, who turned over the bank's assets to East West Bank.

San Francisco-based United Commercial, which catered to Chinese customers and businesses with operations in Asia, had operated 63 branches in the United States, including 23 in the Bay Area.

Loan losses, misstated financial reports and the ouster of its chairman and chief executive officer helped to doom the bank, the latest in a string of bank failures unleashed by an economic meltdown that is the worst in decades.

The local branches included four in the East Bay, three on the Peninsula, four in the South Bay and 12 in San Francisco.

In 2008, UCBH Holdings Inc., the owner of United Commercial Bank, lost $68 million on $748 million in revenue. In the first quarter of fiscal 2009 ended March 31 — the last time UCBH disclosed quarterly results — the bank lost $86 million.