An international family establishes a New York bank
The Safra family’s banking story predates its New York bank by more than a century. The company’s history traces the family banking house to Aleppo in 1841. In 1987, the J. Safra Group established a U.S.-regulated bank on New York’s 42nd Street; the business later moved to Fifth Avenue as it expanded. The family heritage and the New York bank’s founding are separate dates. [3]
The institution today is Safra National Bank of New York, FDIC certificate 26876, a national bank supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Safra New York Corporation is its holding company, and the bank belongs to the wider J. Safra Group. The group’s worldwide network is not another name for the assets held inside this particular New York institution. [1][4]
Acquisitions deepen the private-banking franchise
Safra’s history records the acquisition of United Mizrahi Bank’s New York private bank in 1997, which brought relationships and offices serving Latin American clients. In 2017, it acquired Hapoalim’s private-banking business in Miami. These transactions help explain why a bank headquartered in Manhattan also has a substantial Florida and international-client identity. [3]
On October 1, 2023, Safra New York Corporation announced that it had completed the acquisition of Delta North Bankcorp, including Delta National Bank and Trust Company. The announcement named Jacob J. Safra as the bank’s chairman and Simoni Morato as its chief executive officer, and framed the purchase as an expansion of its U.S. and Latin American private-banking and wealth-management business. Those titles and transaction claims are attributed to the announcement at that date. [4]
What private banking means in practice
The bank describes its clients as wealthy individuals, families and businesses seeking banking and investment services together. Its offerings include checking and savings accounts in dollars and other currencies, transfers, asset custody, foreign-exchange transactions and lines of credit secured by investments. Corporate lending includes commercial real estate and facilities for investment funds. These are described services, not evidence that every client uses every product. [5][6]
A securities-backed loan connects the borrowing relationship to a client’s investment holdings, while a commercial-property loan depends on different collateral and cash flows. The product range helps explain why this bank’s balance sheet should not be interpreted as if it were principally a mass-market mortgage or credit-card lender. The available public pages describe the offerings but do not disclose their individual revenue or profitability. [5][6]
Related services come from distinct companies
Safra’s product disclosures name Safra Securities LLC as the brokerage provider, J. Safra Asset Management Corporation as the investment adviser and J. Safra Inc. as the insurance-services provider. They are distinct organizations. Putting their services on the same website does not turn brokerage accounts, investment advice or insurance products into insured bank deposits. [5]
The bank’s own disclosure says investment, insurance and advisory products and foreign-exchange transactions are not FDIC-insured and may lose value. Its about page also states that M.Y. Safra Bank is unaffiliated with Safra National and the J. Safra companies. Similar family names are therefore insufficient grounds to combine the institutions. [5][7]
Client assets and bank assets answer different questions
The 2023 acquisition announcement described approximately $30 billion of client assets at Safra National Bank. That was a dated measure of the client business, not a statement of insured-bank balance-sheet assets. Custody and investment relationships can include property belonging to customers rather than to the bank. The announcement’s group-wide assets-under-management figure likewise cannot be substituted for this bank’s assets. [4]
At June 30, 2026, the FDIC recorded $6.378 billion of securities and $4.436 billion of cash and balances due from depository institutions. Together those two reported categories were about 68.9% of bank assets, illustrating the importance of holdings outside the loan book. This composition is not by itself a verdict on investment or risk. [2]
The insured bank at midyear
At June 30, 2026, the FDIC reported $15.692 billion of assets, $13.881 billion of deposits, $3.644 billion of net loans and leases, and $1.353 billion of equity for the insured bank. Net income was $61.953 million for the first six months of 2026. These bank-only figures are converted from thousands of dollars; income is year to date, not standalone second-quarter profit. [2]
The bank’s promotional descriptions emphasize family ownership, continuity and a conservative approach. Those are its own characterizations. The FDIC snapshot supplies an independently reported financial boundary for the U.S. institution, but it does not reveal the full client-asset mix, beneficial ownership of every account or performance of the wider family group. [2][7]
Sources
- FDIC institution directory, October 2, 2026 index; reviewed October 5Official sourceBack to text: ↑
- FDIC June 30, 2026 bank financials; dollar fields in thousands; income year to dateOfficial sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3
- Safra National Bank institutional history, undated; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- Safra New York Corporation acquisition-completion announcement, October 1, 2023; PR Newswire release carried by PA MediaSourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3
- Safra National Bank private-client products and provider disclosures, undated; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5
- Safra National Bank corporate products, undated; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- Safra National Bank about page and affiliation disclaimer, undated; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3