The historic overseas bank was established in London in 1828 as Leslie & Grindlay, agents and bankers to the British Army and business community in India.

[5][6] Expansion of the business saw the opening of several other offices in the City of London (Cornhill and Bishopsgate) and Westminster (Whitehall and St James's Square).

R M Grindlay, the firm added private banking, insurance, and other financial activities to its menu of services, and operations expanded to include Europe, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and elements of Africa.

[7] When Grindlay eventually retired in 1842, the firm had become "the most distinguished bankers and agents to the civil and military officials of the business community and the British Army in India".

[1] Grindlays was regarded as "pre-eminently bankers to the Indian Army", concentrating in areas of important civil or military headquarters, and undertook little commercial banking.

[1] The failure of army bankers, MacGrigors in 1922 and then the Alliance Bank of Simla in 1923,[10] encouraged the Grindlays partners to seek the security of a larger organisation.

[3] Steady expansion continued through the early 1900s and by the outbreak of World War I NBI was the seventh largest of the London-registered overseas banks.

In 2000, ANZ sold its Grindlays subsidiary to Standard Chartered for US$1.34 (A$2.2) billion in cash,[13] which merged it with its existing banking operations.