"What you learn when you're young, you never forget," he once said.
"Sometimes happens down there and you recite it verbatim," then continued.

That love affair with literature, from the Greek masters like Socrates,
Aristotle and Plato, to other thinkers like Thomas More and Ignatius of Loyola, and
countless others led to other interests in later years. With such depth of
understanding the classics, he had wished to be a writer. "I wrote also
because I believe writing improves one's capacity to articulate."

Pepito, as he was fondly called by his parents, descended from a respectable family with roots in Laguna. The family had a pronounced blend of Portuguese and Spanish, confluence in between its proud Filipino lineage. Born on September 22, 1923 (a Saturday), he was the third child of Jose Fernandez y Zorilla of Mabitac, and Erundina Bartolome y Rivera of Pila, both from Laguna.

However, Pepito was born and raised in Manila, where his father had lived since he was 16. A frail but good-looking boy, Pepito was deeply loved by his parents and "guardian angels" (siblings Vicente, Eloisa, Erundina and Zita). They were his first playmates and mentors, and they all shared many happy moments together.

After the war, Jobo enrolled at Fordham University in New York and Harvard University in Masachusetts where he received his BSBA degree summa cum laude and MBA with distinction, respectively. When he got back to the Philippines, it was already October of 1949. In no uncertain terms did it occur to him that the challenges of macrofinance were indeed what Dan Smith made him understand it to be. Following his decision to establish a career in financial management, Jose "Jobo" applied at the newly-organized Central Bank of the Philippines. He was confident that he would make good use of what he learned in Harvard University about monetary policy.

Meanwhile, a friend of the Fernandezs, Jose "Don Pepe" Cojuangco, the president of Philippine Bank of Commerce (PBC) offered him a job one of the major banks then. (The Philippine Bank of Commerce, established in 1938, was the first all-Filipino-owned private bank.) This prominent businessman-banker had a daughter, Corazon (or Cory), who many decades later was to become president of the Philippines and with whom Jobo was to work closely with. But, of course, nobody knew back then that their paths would cross again sometime in the future. "Joe," Jobo Fernandez quoted the Cojuangco bossman as saying, "you said you want to work for the government?" The young man answered affirmatively. "Are you rich?" the old man asked again. "No, I'm poor," came the answer.

"If you are not rich, then don't work for the government. Not yet. You have time. Wait till you have a little money, then I would be the first to tell you to go and work for the government," advised the patriarch of the Cojuangco-run bank. Many years later, Fernandez would be heard saying, "I'll never forget that."

And so, Jobo took his first job at the Philippine Bank of Commerce as assistant to the president. He reported directly to Don Pepe. Their office was on Rizal Avenue in Manila's Santa Cruz district. There, Jobo rose to become vice president, and he virtually ran the bank. "I had actually been given an enormous amount of latitude in running that bank," he recalled. On the side, he also wrote a column on economics and business for five years (called "Business Conditions") in the Sunday Chronicle, one of the country's leading newspapers then. By this time, his writing engagement had shifted to a more serious mien, compared with the gossip column he wrote briefly in the old Daily Express. At the same time, he served in the college faculty of Ateneo de Manila on Padre Faura where he taught economics and finance on a part-time basis.

He had always mentioned to his good friend David Choa that he was not keen on staying in the bank for good. He told Choa that he did not want to be a good employee running a good business like the Philippine Bank of Commerce. Instead, he wanted to establish an institution, "which is the only thing that lives after you."

Jobo's wish kept burning until, in early 1959, he felt that the appropriate time had come. He confided with the bossman about his plans. As expected, the old man tried to dissuade him. But in the end, Don Pepe agreed. Jobo's last day at the bank was on May 31, 1959. (In 1976, PBC was merged into what is now the Philippine Commercial International Bank or PCIBank.)

Someone of Jobo's caliber would not find it difficult to get a job if a job was all he wanted. After Jobo Fernandez left PBC, he received many job offers, including San Miguel, the country's largest conglomerate. The late Don Andres Soriano Sr., had wanted Jobo to be with his team.

But Jobo was firm about not wanting to be employed by someone else. His vision to put up a new bank had always been a gleam in his eyes. He wanted to establish a bank whose ownership was spread out, diversified – one where no single family or group was in control. It will be remembered that during those days, local private banks (Philippine Bank of Commerce included) were all practically family-owned and managed. Although Jobo knew what he wanted, it was his good friend Washington SyCip (founder of the SGV Group, now the biggest consulting firm in Asia) who encouraged him to take the risk because the time was ripe to organize a truly professional bank.