Victor Vargas (born 28 March 1952) is a Venezuelan banker and businessman, best known for being the owner and president of the 14th largest private bank in Venezuela, Banco Occidental de Descuento. Early life Victor Vargas was born into a middle class family in the municipality of Chacao, city of Caracas, Venezuela. His mother was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Venezuela. His father was a doctor. He earned his law degree at Andrés Bello Catholic University. Career Vargas started his career as a lawyer. In the 1980s, he acquired 2% of CapitalBanc Corp., a bank based in New York City. The bank was closed down in the early 1990s after authorities discovered fraud involving Vargas. He was charged and accused of fraud. He is quoted describing the venture as "the worst business" of his life. He shared his experience in October 2007 when he moderated a panel on corporate governance at a Miami conference of the Florida International Bankers Association and the Latin American Banks Federation. In 1992 he sold a small bank he founded and owned. He used those funds a year later, in 1993, to buy Banco Occidental de Descuento, based in the oil-rich state of Zulia. Many of his clients are oil investors. Another form of revenue comes from purchasing sovereign debt bonds and re-selling them for profit to investors. As of 2015, it was the 14th largest private bank in Venezuela. He serves as its Vice-President. Economic alliances In 2014, Vargas and BOD partnered with American Express to provide a new credit product for microentrepreneurs. Microentrepreneurs provide for 15 percent of the Venezuelan economy. Vargas and BOD’s goal was to expand the American Express card to 300,000 cardholders with access to 46,000 businesses by 2013. The card would offer a 4-year rotating term financing option. National financial leadership In 2010, overall profitability on bank assets in Venezuela fell to 9.7 percent from 20.5 percent in 2009. Venezuelan bankers were concerned that the Venezuelan Central Bank had not changed commission tariffs in over five years. Vargas served as the leader of the National Bank Board and led discussions with the Superintendencia de Bancos. Vargas proposed that the Central Bank create new requirements for giving loans to strategic sectors as opposed to the then-current law requiring compulsory loan portfolios. Relations with Bolivarian government Vargas and his bank were not successful before Chavez became