Victor Vargas (born 28 March 1952) is a Venezuelan banker and businessman, best known for being the former owner and president of the now defunct 14th largest private bank in Venezuela, Banco Occidental de Descuento.

Victor Vargas was born into a middle class family in the municipality of Chacao, city of Caracas, Venezuela.

[1] 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.

[1] He used those funds a year later, in 1993, to buy Banco Occidental de Descuento, based in the oil-rich state of Zulia.

Vargas served as the leader of the National Bank Board and led discussions with the Superintendencia de Bancos.

Soon after, President Hugo Chavez went on national TV and announced he was pushing BOD aside and buying the bank himself, on behalf of the Venezuelan government.

[13] Through it all, a 2008 Wall Street Journal article characterized Vargas and Venezuela's other wealthy elites as having "durability...no matter who is in power.

[10] Vargas's survival strategy, he says, is to remain "agnostic about politics": "A businessman has to deal with his government, no matter how far to the right or left it is".

[1] In May 2013, it was alleged that Vargas purchased Cadena Capriles,[14] with its criticism of the Venezuelan government declining afterward.

[16] In 2011, Vargas launched the Entrepreneur Program, a non-profit organization that helps people start small businesses.

For example, the program funded the National Youth Orchestra of Chacao, which is conducted by the famous maestro José Antonio Abreu.

[20][21][22][23] On June 23, 2015, Vargas was named "Latin America Entrepreneur of the Year" by business magazine The Executive.

Concepción Dancausa, one of Spain's delegates to the European Union’s Committee of the Regions, personally gave the award to Vargas at a ceremony in Marid.

"[24] Vargas co-owns and plays left bench for Lechuza Caracas, a polo club and team.