Joseph Safra
Joseph Safra biography is an interesting one to read. Right now, this Brazilian billionaire is ranked at 52th in Forbes billionaires list with estimated fortune at US$13.8 billion. He is currently the chairman of Safra Group, an investment and banking empire whose subsidiaries are Banco Safra in Sao Paulo and Safra National Bank of New York.
Joseph Safra biography
Joseph Safra was born in 1939 Beirut to a Jewish banking family. This is where he gets his knack in banking and investment business. It is said that his family’s banking business can be traced back to Ottoman empire! His ancestors were said to trade with caravan between Aleppo, Alexandria, and Constantinople. Safra’s family stayed in Beirut but then decided to move to Brazil in 1952 due to the breakout of Jewish sentiment in Europe.
The Safra business empire started in 1955 when his father, Jacob Safra, and his brother, Edmond Safra, worked as assets financer in Brazil. Not long after that, Edmond decided to leave Brazil for New York in 1956 and expand his own business there. He was successful and the Republic National Bank of New York was founded. This very bank then was sold to HSBC in 1999 and all of the money obtained from the purchase was donated to Edmond Safra Foundation.
While that, Joseph and the rest of the family stayed in Sao Paulo after Edmond’s depart. Joseph Safra then founded Banco Safra in 1960s which today is the sixth largest private banks in Brazil.
Last year, Safra expanded his banking business empire by purchasing Bank Sarasin for US$1.1 billion. He bought the Switzerland bank from Rabobank of the Netherlands. Together with the purchase of Bank Sarasin, Safra also invested his money on an office space in Manhattan’s 650 Madison Avenue for US$285 million. Joseph Safra biography.
