Joseph Safra (Arabic: يوسف صفرا ; born 1939) is a Brazilian banker who runs the Brazilian banking and investment empire, Safra Group. He serves as the chairman of all Safra companies, among them Safra National Bank of New York and Banco Safra headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. Safra has a net worth of around $20.5 billion. He is of Lebanese Jewish origin, and comes from the Safra family.
Early life
Joseph Safra was born in Aleppo, Syria, to a Jewish Lebanese family with banking connections dating back to Ottoman times, and grew up in Beirut, Lebanon. The family’s history in banking originated with caravan trade between Beirut, Aleppo, Alexandria and Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire.
The Safra family moved to Brazil in 1952. In 1955, Joseph’s 23-year-old brother, Edmond Safra, and his father, Jacob Safra, started working in Brazil by financing assets in São Paulo. But soon, Edmond Safra separated from his brothers Joseph and Moise and headed to New York where he founded the Republic National Bank of New York (which he later sold to HSBC in 1999 and donated most of his money to the Edmond Safra Foundation). Joseph Safra founded Banco Safra in 1955 and today it is reportedly the 6th largest private bank in Brazil. He remains the chairman of the Safra Group offering banking services throughout Europe, North and South America.
Joseph Safra acquired the remaining shares of Safra Group companies from his brother Moise Safra. The two brothers maintain a shareholding in Fibria Cellulose. He has four children: Jacob J. Safra, Esther Safra Dayan, Alberto J. Safra, David J. Safra.
Currently seated as the Chairman of the Safra Group of Companies, Joseph Safra is a Brazilian businessman and billionaire with an estimated net worth of $18.2 billion in August 2018. With his current net worth, he was named by Forbes as the 68th wealthiest person in the globe today. Joseph Safra was born to a well-off Jewish-Lebanese family. When they moved to Brazil, Joseph Safra, his brother and father earned a living in Sao Paolo by financing assets. When his brother decided to separate from the family business to pursue his dreams in New York where he founded Republic National Bank of New York (which was later acquired by HSBC), Banco Safra was founded by Joseph Safra. Today, Banco Safra is considered as the largest private bank operating in Brazil. He seats as the Chairman of the Board of the company which operates in North and South America as well as Europe.
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