Jesmond Mizzi Financial Services Limited always intended to acquire or join forces with other players in the industry, managing director Jesmond Mizzi told The Times Business.

Mr Mizzi was speaking during an interview, together with Atlas Investment Services Limited managing director Jean Gaffiero, a week after the two companies agreed to merge into Atlas JMFS Investment Services Limited.

Mr Mizzi said: "At the outset it was always our plan to acquire or join forces with other players in the industry although this is not very common in Malta.

"In fact, three years ago we acquired the client base of a leading local financial services provider as part of our growth strategy. Obviously a merger needed more thought, and our discussion to merge with Atlas Investment Services Limited took some time.

"The market in Malta is small and small players have to compete with large local and international institutions, so joining forces with another company makes a lot of sense. Furthermore, both companies have different niche areas of business and therefore this makes the merger more interesting."

Mr Gaffiero added that there a number of other reasons for the merger. "The accountancy industry, for example, today has far fewer small players than it had 20 years ago. The reason for this is due to the fact that with the introduction of various laws it became forever harder to offer a wholesome service if the firm lacked the right staff compliment. It is no different in the investment services industry," he said.

Mr Mizzi said that from a corporate point of view the main purpose of the merger is to grow the business with the strengths of both companies. "Obviously, the main focus will always be to give clients the best possible service. Investors today are more informed and seek data which is timely; we are therefore already working hard to enhance our information technology to react to market needs."

Mr Gaffiero said that Atlas Investment Services started offering investment services back in 1996.

"Over the years our business focused on high net worth individuals. We have always worked hard to find ways by which we may constantly better the quality of our service. Through this merger, and the human resources pool that it brings with it, we are confident that we may offer specialised services in different areas of investment," he said.

Mr Mizzi said that JMFS was set up in 2002 and over the years, the company has offered a comprehensive range of financial products and services designed to meet the various needs of its personal, corporate and institutional clients.

"We have over the years managed to create awareness about the company via a strong presence on the media particularly on television programmes which aim to educate and inform investors and the public at large. Now that we have grown the brand, we believe that together with the Atlas Group brand we can reach out to more potential investors. Clients will be able to visit our branches in different locations around Malta as part of our strategy to reach out to our existing and future clients," he said.

Mr Gaffiero said the two companies had already informed their clients of the change in name and the response has been "very positive". The formal merger, he said, will have to run the legal regulatory requirements set out by the Registrar of Companies and "this will therefore take a number of months".

He added: "Our clients have grown with us over the years and together we have experienced the changing investment environment. Rightly so, today they demand and require all sorts of products and investment services. The combining of our companies will serve to ensure the further strengthening of our service and provision of any investment product they require."

Mr Gaffiero said that although the vast majority of his clients were local residents "with the way our financial services industry is developing we expect the number of non-resident clients to grow".

"Furthermore, we hope to attract internet investors who seek professional investment advice. Many have found, and often in a costly fashion, that the trading tools do not include investment knowledge. Obtaining professional advice on an ongoing basis is the smart thing to do," he said.

Asked if any redundancies are to take place from either or both companies as a result of the merger, Mr Mizzi replied: "Certainly not. We are growing as we speak and we have already recruited additional personnel to support our existing staff compliment.

"The international financial crisis has created new opportunities for us and we have over the months attracted new clients who were concerned with retaining their assets with foreign blue chip institutions. Maltese investors are seeking local advisors who relate more to their requirements."

Mr Mizzi said he believed such mergers were the way forward in the financial services sector in Malta "but I think this is essential if we want to compete locally and more importantly internationally."

He added: "The first thing you are asked when seeking business outside Malta relates to assets under management. Mergers create a faster way of increasing assets under management and decreasing costs. This was another attraction to merge."

Mr Gaffiero said: "We are now very keen on finalising the merger in as short a period as possible in order to start implementing our plans."

Mr Gaffiero and Mr Mizzi will serve as joint managing directors while John Catania and Mark Azzopardi will serve as executive directors with Mr Catania serving as operations director while Mr Azzopardi will serve as finance director.