Joseph Safra

Joseph Safra (Template:Langx‎; 1 September 1938 – 10 December 2020) was a Swiss-based Lebanese Brazilian<ref>Joseph Safra (1956) and Joseph Safra (1956), information from the National Archives, Rio de Janeiro. Scan of Joseph Safra's Brazilian entry visa on 1954 on familysearch.org</ref> banker and billionaire businessman of Syrian descent. He was Brazil's richest man and the richest banker in the world, running the Brazilian banking and investment empire, Safra Group.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Joseph Safra was the chairman of all Safra companies, among them Safra National Bank of New York and Banco Safra headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.<ref name="Forbes profile"/> In August 2020, Forbes reported Safra's estimated net worth at US$22.8 billion, the 52nd richest person in the world and richest in Brazil.<ref name="Forbes profile"/>

Early life

Joseph Safra was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon<ref name="auto"/><ref name="bloomberg.com2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="auto2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> to a Jewish family that, according to Safra family's own sources, originally came from Aleppo, Syria,<ref>(Page 18) https://jsafrasarasin.com/content/dam/jsafrasarasin/company/bank-annual-report/annual_report_2015.pdf.coredownload.inline.pdf</ref><ref>(Page 6, 2015's version)

https://www.edmondjsafra.org/book/</ref> and with banking connections dating back to Ottoman times.<ref name="cityamkaspira2">Kasmira Jefford, Gherkin bought by Safra Group: Meet the Brazilian-Lebanese billionaire behind the £700m deal. City A.M., 11 November 2014</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>New York Times: "INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS; The Safras of Brazil: Banking, Faith and Security" By SIMON ROMERO 8 December 1999</ref><ref>(page 28)

https://publications.jsafrasarasin.com/publ-dl-ch/dl-discl?dl=381995ECA9162A691ED93C5EA7E24B5482EEA3F979F183D257B761138A22C59BAEB08CF731936604DFD5A77DA4A81D6D</ref> The family's banking history began in Aleppo with the foundation of the family’s first banking house in 1841, Aleppo was one of the major hubs of commerce and a mandatory route from the East to Europe, and from the latter to Persia and inner Asia. The Safra family financed trade and exchanged currencies for tradesmen, who came to the city through the desert and the Mediterranean.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Safra family moved to Brazil in 1952.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

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. However soon, Edmond Safra separated from his brothers Joseph and Moise and headed to New York City 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. In 2006, Joseph Safra acquired the remaining shares of Banco Safra from his brother Moise Safra.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He remained the chairman of the Safra Group, offering banking services throughout Europe, North America, and South America, until the end of his life.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Property

In 2013, Joseph Safra's family acquired more than a dozen properties in the United States, primarily in New York City. They also own a portfolio of commercial real estate in Brazil.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2014, Safra paid more than £700 million to buy The Gherkin, one of the most distinctive towers in the City of London.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He proposed to build the Tulip, a skyscraper in London, but the city's mayor rejected it in 2019.<ref name="Dolan">Template:Cite news</ref> He founded the Jewish Brazilian school of Beit Yaacov in 2001.Template:Citation needed

Business holdings

• Chiquita<ref name="Dolan" />
• Safra Group<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Banco Safra<ref name="Dolan" />
  • J. Safra Sarasin<ref name="Dolan" />
  • Safra National Bank of New York<ref name="Dolan" />

Personal life

Safra was a resident of Geneva, Switzerland.<ref name="Forbes profile"/>In 1969, he married Vicky Sarfati.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They had four children: Jacob J. Safra, Template:Interlanguage link (married to Template:Interlanguage link, son of Sasson Dayan), Alberto J. Safra, and David J. Safra.<ref name="JVCourt">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Jacob is responsible for the international operations while David manages Banco Safra in Brazil.<ref name=JVCourt />

Safra died on 10 December 2020 in São Paulo at the age of 82.<ref name="Financier Joseph Safra, Brazil's richest man, dies at 82">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He had Parkinson's disease.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• List of Brazilians by net worth

External links

• Meet Joseph Safra, The Richest Banker On The Planet and The Safra Dynasty: The Mysterious Family Of The Richest Banker In The World on Business Insider