For other uses of "Habib Bank", see Habib Bank (disambiguation)
| Type | Public Limited Company (KSE: HBL) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Banking Capital Markets |
| Founded | Bombay (now Mumbai), in 1941. |
| Headquarters | Habib Bank Plaza, Karachi, Pakistan |
| Products | Loans, credit cards, Savings, Consumer Banking etc. |
| Revenue | PKR 76.08 bn (USD 903.07 million) - 2009[1] |
| Net income | PKR 13.4 bn (USD 159.07 mln) - 2009[1] |
| Website | Habib Bank Limited [1] |
HBL (Urdu: حَبيب بينك) (formerly Habib Bank Limited) now referred to as "HBL Pakistan" and headquartered in Habib Bank Plaza, Karachi, Pakistan, is the largest bank in Pakistan. The bank has a network of over 1450 branches in Pakistan and 55 branches worldwide. It has a domestic market share of over 40%. It continues to dominate the commercial banking sector with a major market share in inward foreign remittances (55%) and loans to small industries, traders and farmers.
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Habib Bank offers the basic range of banking services to its customers, to include commercial, bank in the emerging markets.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founding father, realized the importance of financial intermediation while he was campaigning for the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. He persuaded the Habib family to establish a commercial bank that could serve the Indian Muslim community. His initiative resulted in the creation of Habib Bank in 1941, with HO in Bombay (now Mumbai), and fixed capital of 25,000 rupees. The bank played an important role in mobilizing funds from the Muslim community to finance the All-India Muslim League's campaign for the establishment of Pakistan. Habib Bank also played an important role in channeling relief funds to Muslims hurt in the communal riots and violence that preceded the departure of the British from India.
After Pakistan was born in 1947, Habib Bank, at the urging of Governor-General Jinnah, moved its headquarters to Karachi, Pakistan's first capital. This gave Karachi its first commercial bank of the newly formed Pakistan. The Habib family owned and managed the bank until the Pakistan government nationalized it on 1 January 1974. In 2004, management of the Bank was handed over to Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED).[2]
Habib bank has long been scrutinized by intelligence officials monitoring terrorist money flows.[7]
On 18 July 2007, Mariane Pearl, the widow of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, filed a lawsuit against Habib Bank Ltd over the 2002 abduction, torture and murder of her husband. The pending lawsuit alleges the bank and its subsidiaries knowingly conducted financial transactions and provided account services on behalf of Al Akhtar Trust, a Pakistani-based charity trust. Al Akhtar Trust’s accounts have been used to provide financial support to terrorists.[8] However, HBL claims to have froze Al Akhtar Trust’s accounts several years before Daniel Pearl’s abduction.[9]
On 24 October 2007, Pearl's lawsuit against HBL was formally dropped. Lawyers for Mariane Pearl noted that Habib Bank Limited and the other defendants in the case had not answered the lawsuit filed in July (although Habib Bank Limited had denied ever supporting terrorism),[10] but they otherwise did not explain their reason for dropping the action.[11]
The U.S. Federal Reserve Board and the New York State Banking Department criticized Habib Bank Limited for failing to address deficiencies in its compliance with U.S. anti-money laundering laws. After the U.S. Federal Reserve Board threatened formal charges, though none were filed, Habib Bank Limited agreed to strengthen the bank's compliance.[12] More specifically, the Fed ordered HBL to strengthen its transaction monitoring systems and the filing of "suspicious activity reports" on transactions that do not fit the routine business patterns of the bank's customer base.
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