History of Bank

Habib Esmail, founder of Habib Group, started his

career in Bombay in 1891 at the age of 13 on a salary
of Rs. 5 per month in a firm that dealt in copper and
brass utensils. He worked day and night, arriving
before the shop opened, staying till late in the night,
and then walking home to save money on
conveyance. No wonder that in the short span of five
years, at the age of 18, he was made a partner in the
firm. Even at that young age, he had established an
excellent reputation for honesty, hard work, fair play,
trustworthiness, humility. These values continue to
guide the activities of Habib Group to this day.
During the next 17 years, he captured over 60
percent of the local utensils business and diversified
into export of copper, cotton scrap iron and
manganese ore, selling to East Africa, Italy, France
and Great Britain. Being a person of great insight, he
sent his representatives to Europe in 1912 and
established branch offices in Genoa and Vienna.
Simultaneously, he initiated business relationships
with
Japan
and
China.
His reputation for honesty and fair play was so well
known that his customers and local merchants would
leave their surplus funds with him for safe-keeping
and investment, thus establishing the foundation of
the family's banking business. In 1921, he started
Habib & Sons. The firm traded in cotton, oil seeds,
and bullion and acted as a merchant bank. It
eventually became the flagship of the family and the
parent
company
of
Habib
Bank
Limited.

Habib Bank Limited was established in Bombay in

1941 by the sons of Habib Esmail. The bank had over
30 branches operating in India at the time of
partition. Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
reposed confidence in the bank by opening his
personal account. On the creation of Pakistan in
1947, and following the advice of the Quaid-e-Azam,
Habib Family shifted all of its businesses including
Habib Bank to Pakistan. The bank played a vital role
in meeting the financial and banking needs of
Pakistan. It continued to record tremendous growth
and progress, it emerged as the leading privatesector commercial bank in Pakistan when it was taken
over by the Government of Pakistan along with all
other Pakistani banks on January 1, 1974.
In 1991, the government again decided to allow the
private sector to establish commercial banks in the
country. Dawood Habib Group was amongst the first
to be granted permission to set up a new bank under
this policy. Bank AL Habib Limited was incorporated in
October 1991 by the grandsons of Habib Esmail and
started operations in January 1992. Although Bank AL
Habib commenced operations in 1992, it embodies
the same high standards of integrity, prudence, and
trust which have characterized Habib Family's
banking operations in Pakistan and abroad for about
70 years. The bank is particularly conscious of the
trust reposed in it by the depositors, and its prime
duty is to protect and honour this trust all times.
Guided by the values taught and practiced by Habib
Esmail more than a century ago, the bank has
continued to grow and progress in all areas of its
operations. In a short span of 25 years, the Bank's

assets have grown to more than Rs, 600 Billion, with

a network of 549 branches and sub-branches, a
Wholesale Branch in the Kingdom of Bahrain,
Seychelles and Malaysia and Representative Offices
in Dubai, Istanbul and Beijing, China.