El Banco Español Filipino de Isabel II, precursor of Bank of the Philippine Islands, was the first private commercial bank in Southeast Asia
As a public administrator, Jacobo attained the position of city councilor at the age of 27, and by the age of 30, he had become regidor of Manila. Apart from all these, he played host and patron to the burgeoning Philippine art and music scene. But perhaps the young Zobel’s most defining achievement was his involvement in the protest movement against the abusive components of Spanish rule. Energetic, fearless, and outspoken, he could not remain quiet about the overheating political situation in the Spanish colony.
It is easy to see how Jacobo could so quickly capture the public’s attention. As a maverick leader with a heart for the indio’s interests, he cut a valiant, refreshing figure equally among the intellectual elite and the general public. But it is also just as easy to see how the Spanish administration could attribute unsavory deeds and conspiracies to someone so gifted and uninhibited. Jacobo Zobel was quickly suspected of supporting the 1872 Cavite Mutiny—the very happening that had precipitated the Gomburza martyrdom and the swell of underground protest that followed. The resulting charges put him in prison for six months. In the end, it would be the dispute between his German and Spanish nationalities that would exonerate him from his suspected crime.
Jacobo’s release from prison was immediately followed by his marriage to Trinidad Roxas de Ayala, elder daughter of Antonio and Margarita Roxas de Ayala. This was a period of great, inexorable change for the country. So it was, also, for Casa Ayala. After the death of Margarita Roxas de Ayala in 1869, Antonio carried on at the helm until his own passing seven years later. Through the years of careful diversification, Casa Ayala had grown larger still. It was, all at once, a great fortune, a great responsibility, and a great task. For Carmen and Trinidad, daughters and heirs of Antonio and Margarita Roxas de Ayala, it had become a great inheritance.
Casa Ayala was the first step in what would be a long uninterrupted journey that today, almost two centuries later, still remains stretched out before the company. For a fledgling nation feeling the first stirrings of a truly global trade from half a world away, Casa Ayala was a brave, idealistic venture. Today, while global trade has drastically changed in scope and scale, there is still a wealth of possibilities and opportunities always to be discovered, requiring very much the same entrepreneurial qualities the originators of Casa Ayala possessed: a pioneering spirit, the courage to innovate, and the stamina for the road still well ahead.