[attach id=245596 size="medium"]John Cassar White.[/attach]

John Cassar White, a former Malta Shipyards chairman and a respected financial analyst, was yesterday appointed chairman of Bank of Valletta.

He succeeds Frederick Mifsud Bonnici, who took over from the previous chairman last July.

The chairman of the BOV board is appointed by the Government, which has a 23 per cent shareholding in the bank.

Mr Cassar White was a member of the Labour Party’s Business Forum set up in 2010, which held regular meetings with business institutions and organised activities for enterprises. He was the executive chairman of Malta Shipyards before it was closed down in 2008. He had resigned from the post citing personal and family health reasons.

He has now been entrusted with the job of leading one of Malta’s two largest banks at a time when Europe is still in the economic doldrums.

When contacted, Mr Cassar White said he was taking over at Bank of Valletta at a “very challenging time” for the bank in view of the global financial situation and the state of the economies of other countries, especially those in the eurozone.

He said there were certain issues that need to be addressed within the bank in the context of this challenging global situation.

He would work to ensure that the bank contributed to the full to Malta’s economy, as it has always done.

Mr Cassar White worked for BOV in the past as general manager of Finance and Support Services.

He runs a private management consultancy and lectures in business studies at the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology.