Following the recent establishment of FirstUnited Insurance Brokers Ltd, the company was officially launched by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

FirstUnited has evolved following the merger of the insurance broking operations of two leading insurance brokers, First Insurance Brokers Limited and United Insurance Brokers Limited. This consolidation aims at heralding a number of changes, both in the insurance and the financial services market.

FirstUnited combines the cultures of two similar firms with a complementary client base with first class quality and work standards and practices. With a combined staff of over 30 insurance professionals and representing a worldwide insurance broking network, the various services provided to clients will be designed to deliver better value and additional benefits where they are needed.

Salvino Mifsud Bonnici has been appointed chairman of FirstUnited. Peter Grima is the new managing director, while Kevin Galea Pace is the third executive director. Austin Walker, Hugh Mercieca and Philip Grima complete the FirstUnited board as non-executive directors.

To celebrate this important milestone, the chairman and board of directors hosted a reception for business partners, customers and guests at the Westin Dragonara Hotel.

When addressing the media, Mr Mifsud Bonnici commented: “This is a merger of equals that will place FirstUnited in the forefront of Malta’s insurance broking services sector. There is evidently an innate cultural match between our two companies and the people running them... but of course, this alone was not enough. We had to persuade ourselves that we could jointly deliver shareholder value by giving life to our shared vision for the future of our companies. Indeed, it is fair to say that we have been focusing much more on ‘vision’ than purely cost savings.”

“While economies of scale dictate that larger, leaner companies promise greater profit margins, we look to these savings not as an end in themselves but as a means to enable us to move into new sectors of business, such as product branding and insurance management. That will bring with it, better utilisation and flexibility of our staff while generating new and better revenue streams for the company,” he added.

Mr Mifsud Bonnici concluded by auguring that “the political leaders in this country realise that that it pays to nurture and encourage home-grown businesses. These are the businesses which, rain or shine, are here for the long haul.”

FirstUnited will operate from their head office at Villa Eden, 25, Princess Elizabeth Street, Ta’ Xbiex, with a branch office at J.F. Kennedy Square, Victoria, Gozo. The merger of the insurance broking operations of the two companies has been approved by the Malta Financial Services Authority.