Team size: 20

Career Biography

José Alberto Garzón Gaitán is one of Colombia’s most seasoned and strategically influential in-house lawyers, bringing over 25 years of expertise at the intersection of commercial, financial and insurance law within the country’s public financial sector.

A graduate of Universidad del Rosario, with specialisations in commercial, financial and insurance law, and advanced executive training at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Garzón has built a distinguished career that uniquely combines deep legal expertise with high-level corporate governance and institutional leadership.

Since joining Bancóldex — Colombia’s state-owned business development bank — in 1995, Garzón has been instrumental in shaping the institution’s legal architecture across successive stages of its evolution. Rising through roles including attorney and director of the legal department, he has served as VP of legal affairs and general secretary since 2003, overseeing the bank’s legal strategy, corporate governance and institutional compliance across an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.

A defining feature of Garzón’s leadership is his conviction that a legal team must be deeply embedded in the business it serves. Under his stewardship, Bancóldex’s vice presidency of legal affairs has been restructured around proximity to business units, cross-functional vision and proactive risk management — moving decisively away from a reactive, silo-based model. He has introduced performance metrics and an empowerment-driven structure that balances autonomy with rigorous follow-through, ensuring that legal counsel is not merely technically sound but genuinely aligned with institutional priorities. For Garzón, the role of an in-house lawyer in a public financial institution carries a singular responsibility: it demands mastery of both public law and technical legal practice, while channelling that expertise toward mission-driven outcomes — building innovative, practical legal solutions that ultimately serve Colombia’s entrepreneurs and productive sector.

His influence extends well beyond Bancóldex’s internal affairs. Garzón serves as an independent director on the Board of the Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (Bladex) in Panama — a role he has held since 2017 — and has been a board member of Fiduciaria Colombiana de Comercio Exterior (Fiducoldex) since 2016, where he has chaired the Board of Directors. He also serves on the board of Segurexpo de Colombia (CESCE Colombia) and holds the presidency of the Colombian Institute of Corporate Governance. As president of the Committee on Public Banking and Rediscount Entities at Asobancaria — Colombia’s leading banking association — he plays a pivotal role in shaping sectoral policy and advancing the agenda of Colombia’s public and development finance institutions. In 2026, he was elected to the Board of Directors of ALIDE — the Latin American Association of Development Finance Institutions — until 2027, reflecting his growing regional influence.

His commitment to the legal community extends to academia. Garzón has served as professor of Credit Insurance Law in the Insurance Law specialisation programme at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, and taught Political History of Ideas and Insurance

Law at Fundación Universitaria Jorge Tadeo Lozano, contributing to the formation of the next generation of Colombian legal professionals.

In February 2025, Garzón was appointed Acting President of Bancóldex, a testament to the trust placed in his leadership by the institution’s board and government stakeholders. In this capacity, he has represented Colombia’s development banking sector at high-profile international forums, including the CAF Latin American and Caribbean Economic Forum 2026, where he articulated the strategic role of development banking in driving sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Garzón exemplifies the modern general counsel: a lawyer whose career stands as proof that rigorous legal thinking and strategic vision are not opposing forces, but complementary ones — an institutional leader, trusted board director and regional voice for governance excellence in Latin America’s financial sector.

What are the key projects you have been involved in over the past twelve months?

The Bank is making a very relevant strategic change, which seeks to increase its presence in the regions, implementing financial and non-financial products and services as a development bank. This has involved designing digital legal documentation, working on the legal structure of private equity funds and labeled bond issues in the capital market.

My role in this strategic shift involves leading and identifying the necessary tools and resources to guide the legal team in generating the right conversations to inform the design of legal solutions and support their implementation. The results of this work are evident in the legal documents prepared by the legal vice presidency.

Can you describe an instance where your legal advice directly influenced business strategy or commercial objectives?

The Bank has a very special legal nature because it holds a banking license and, at the same time, must act as a business development entity that generates impact. This makes legal counsel essential to its business strategy, particularly in the design of new products and digital platforms, incorporating analyses in areas of administrative, financial, commercial, and insurance law, among others.

For example, the structure of the regulatory compliance process applicable to the entire company was designed, which allows anticipating the framework applicable to the business strategy and preparing legal alternatives that allow facing the challenges of the business objectives. Within that process, the possibility was identified that the Bank, being a business development bank that acts primarily as a second-tier bank, could offer a bancassurance program, under conditions different from those commonly seen in the market.

How has the role of general counsel evolved, and what are the most important attributes for the modern in-house lawyer?

The general counsel role has evolved from a mere guardian of the legal framework to a cross-functional advisor who understands the business and regulations in order to find the best alternatives for fulfilling the mission while managing risks. It has evolved from the person who usually says “no” to someone who seeks solutions before saying “no.” The modern in-house lawyer must possess critical thinking skills, a holistic perspective, and be resourceful.

How do you manage situations where legal advice and commercial objectives conflict?

Conflicts between legal advice and business objectives are handled with the awareness that the other people who consult the GC do not have legal knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary to look at what they need from the in-house lawyer before judging them and, with that context, provide the solution that best suits the business.

Beyond your legal role, is there a cause or initiative you are especially passionate about?

I am passionate about corporate governance because it allows for the application of regulations and legal advice to the policies and procedures that bring coherence to how an organisation operates and is overseen. This is all done not only from a theoretical perspective, but also from a practical one, and it encompasses all levels of the company.

This cause has led me to lead the design and implementation of corporate governance policies and practices within the company, which has allowed the Bank to be recognised and participate in important local and international initiatives in this area.