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 $18.3 billion in May 2019. 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.

In 2012, he purchased Bank Sarasin, a private bank based in Switzerland for only $2 billion. He then merged it with a bank in Bahamas and his other European Holdings to establish Bank J. Safra Sarasin.