In the 1990s, the Gilinskis contributed US$8 million to the Fundacion Santa Fe. This was during Jaime Gilinski’s time as chairman of Banco de Colombia. La Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá supports Santa Fe Hospital in Bogotá. Founded in 1972, this hospital is recognized as Colombia’s most technologically advanced.

Gilinski earned his BS in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1978, and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1980.

In 2003, Gilinski acquired and subsequently merged Banco Sudameris and Banco Tequendama. This merger created GNB Sudameris, a bank with assets of over US $10 billion that ranks among the largest private Colombian banks as of 2018. The purchase of Servibanca, an ATM network with over 2,600 machines, and Suma Valores, a stock exchange commission agent company, has further expanded the network.

In May 2012, HSBC announced the sale of its Latin American operations (Colombia, Peru, Paraguay) to Banco GNB Sudameris for $400 million in cash.

In September 2013, Banco Sabadell announced that Gilinski became its largest shareholder as the anchor investor in a US $1.8 billion capital raise. Through the ABB and share rights issue, Gilinski’s investment totals approximately $500 million. Banco Sabadell is the 5th largest bank in Spain, with over US $220 billion in assets and a 13% market share.

In December 2019, Gilinski became the largest shareholder of Metro Bank, after upping his interest in the business to 6.1%. In May 2020, he increased his stake to 9%. Gilinski holds his stake through British Virgin Islands-based Spaldy Investments.