Habib Bank Limited has raised the bar for premium banking in Pakistan with the launch of its most exclusive credit card yet. The HBL Visa Infinite CreditCard, developed in partnership with Visa, is aimed squarely at the bank’s most distinguished clients, people who travel often, spend heavily and expect their bank to keep pace with a life lived across borders. It is the most premium card HBL has ever put its name to, and the bank is presenting it as the centrepiece of its offer to affluent customers.
The new card brings together a suite of travel, lifestyle, rewards and protection benefits in a single product. HBL has not published a line by line list of every privilege, but the pitch is clear enough: a card for customers whose banking needs go well beyond day to day spending, with the extras that come with a top tier product ready whenever they travel, shop or entertain, at home or abroad. It sits at the very top of HBL’s card portfolio, above the bank’s existing credit and debit cards, and it is designed to work alongside HBL Prestige, the bank’s premium banking proposition for high net worth clients.
Announcing the launch, Muhammad Nassir Salim, President and Chief Executive Officer of HBL, said the card was built for customers whose ambitions reach beyond borders. He pointed to the bank’s history of more than eight decades, growing alongside its clients and building relationships founded on trust across generations. The new card, he said, offers exceptional privileges, global access and the confidence that comes with banking with Pakistan’s leading financial institution.
Visa Infinite is the highest tier in Visa’s card range, a level reserved for the most affluent customers of its partner banks around the world. Cards at this level typically come with airport lounge access, a round the clock concierge for travel and bookings, and travel insurance and purchase protection. The exact mix varies from one issuing bank to another, and HBL has so far described its own card in broad terms, speaking of travel, lifestyle, rewards and protection without spelling out each benefit. The card is accepted wherever Visa is accepted, which covers more than 200 countries and territories.
The launch also fits into a much longer story. HBL was founded on 25 August 1941 in Bombay by the Habib family, and it moved its operations to Karachi after independence, becoming the first commercial bank to be established in Pakistan. It has since grown into one of the country’s largest banks by assets, with total assets of Rs 7.70 trillion reported for 2025, a network of about 1,740 branches, and around 15 per cent of all bank deposits in Pakistan. When a bank of that size launches a flagship card, it is not a niche experiment, it is a statement about where it sees its most valuable customers heading.
That customer is increasingly likely to be served through HBL Prestige, the bank’s proposition for high net worth individuals. Prestige clients get dedicated portfolio managers and access to a network of lounges that reached 60 locations across 22 cities in August 2026, including Dubai and London. The new Visa Infinite card complements that offer, giving Prestige clients a payment product that matches the service they already receive in the branch and the lounge. Affluent clients hold larger balances, borrow more and travel more, and a premium card keeps them inside the bank’s own ecosystem rather than drifting to a rival.
The launch is also the latest step in a long partnership between HBL and Visa: HBL brings the branch network, the customer base and the local knowledge, while Visa brings global acceptance and the premium benefits platform behind the Infinite brand. It is a familiar formula in premium banking, but the test will be whether the benefits feel generous in practice rather than impressive on paper.
Plenty remains unanswered. The announcement did not spell out the eligibility criteria, the annual fee or the full benefit list, and those details will decide whether the card appeals beyond a small circle of the bank’s very top clients. Premium cards of this kind are usually offered by invitation or to customers who meet a high income or deposit threshold, so anyone interested will need to ask the bank for the fine print before judging the offer.
Even so, the launch says something about the direction of banking in Pakistan. Banks are competing harder than ever for affluent customers, and the contest is no longer just about interest rates or branch locations. It is about the whole experience, from the lounge at the airport to the concierge on the phone, and about giving customers a reason to keep their wealth with one bank. HBL, with its history, its scale and its Prestige network, is betting that a flagship card will help it hold that ground. Whether the card lives up to its billing will become clear as the first cardholders start using it, but for now the bank has laid down a marker, and its rivals will have noticed.
