Fabián Kon, CEO of Grupo Financiero Galicia - managing change, taking risks and the future of banking in Argentina

Fabián Kon spent a decade transforming Banco Galicia from a traditional, functionally structured institution into one of the most digitally advanced banks in Latin America. In this episode, he traces an unconventional path: from military school, through consulting at Accenture, running a port operation, leading an insurance business, and eventually overhauling the retail bank that he would go on to lead as CEO.

At the heart of the conversation is the question of how large, established organisations actually change, and what it takes to make that change stick. Fabian speaks candidly about the decision to restructure the bank around autonomous tribes, the internal cultural shift required to make that work, and the critical role played by a controlling shareholder group willing to back risk-taking over the long term. He also discusses the $500 million acquisition of HSBC Argentina, completed under significant macroeconomic pressure, and what drove the logic of consolidation.

Looking ahead, the conversation turns to the implications of Argentina's ongoing economic transformation for the banking sector, the competitive pressure from fintechs and players like Mercado Pago, and what agentic AI may mean for the organisational structures that banks like Galicia have only recently put in place.