Mr Zahra said it had not been easy for him to decide that his time at the bank was up. “These last six years were challenging for me both on a personal and on a professional level. I shall miss the bank because it has great people,” he said.

The chairman went on to explain that never has the bank been through such fast changing times. Notwithstanding this, the team at BOV rose to the occasion. “We grew in profits, in market share, in assets; we developed and transformed our business lines, our distribution channels, our information technology, our presence in new markets. And we took a lot of decisions and implemented them so as to ensure that the bank becomes leaner, faster, more creative and responds in the smoothest way possible to changes in the external environment”, said Mr Zahra.

The chairman said that all the changes and developments which have taken place over the past six years would not have been possible without the input of the Bank’s employees. Mr. Zahra, who wished all BOV employees a great future, concluded by saying that, “this is a great bank because it has great people. My experience has shown that you need a combination of professionalism, competence, techniques and skills on the one hand, and human qualities on the other. The bank has both.”