Habib Esmail, founder of the Habib Group, started his career in Bombay with his maternal uncle at the age of 13. He joined Khoja Mithabhai Nathoo, Merchant and Manufacturers of Copper and Brass Utensils in 1891, as a clerk, on a monthly remuneration of Rs. 5 only.

In the span of next five years at the age of 18, he was made a junior partner in the firm of Khoja Mithabhai Nathoo.

During the next 17 years, he captured over 60% of the local utensils business and diversified into exports of copper, cotton, scrap iron and manganese ore, selling to East Africa, Italy, France and Great Britain. Being a person of tremendous foresight, he sent his representative to Europe in 1912 and established branch offices in Genoa and Vienna.

In 1892 he started the firm Habib & Sons that traded in cotton, oil seeds, bullion and to act as a merchant bank. This firm eventually became the flagship and the parent company of Habib Bank Limited.

Habib Bank Limited was established in 1941 in Bombay as a public limited company with a paid-up capital of Rs. 2.5 million. This Muslim owned bank of the Indian subcontinent shifted its head office to Karachi prior to the creation of Pakistan. Being the only Muslim bank, it became instrumental in providing the financial and banking needs of Pakistan. The first offer of securities made by the Government of Pakistan was fully subscribed by Habib Bank Limited.

Within a short span of time, a vast network of branches was established to facilitate trade, commerce and industrialization in the country. The Bank continued to record tremendous growth and progress and emerged as the leading commercial bank in Pakistan, when it was nationalized, along with all other banks, in Pakistan, on December 31, 1973.