Financial services recruiter Joslin Rowe and accountancy & finance staffing firm Martin Ward Anderson are joining to create one professional recruitment company.

The Randstad firms set up an integration team in November to research a more formal proposition, formally launching the first phase to all staff in the middle of January.

Current Joslin Rowe managing director Tara Ricks will be the new company‘s managing director, while Martin Ward Anderson chief executive Richard Wright has left the firm.

• The new firm will employ 212 staff across 15 offices in the UK and overseas
• Martin Ward Anderson will continue its specialisation in the horizontal market of accountancy & finance, Joslin Rowe in the vertical market of financial services.
• Joslin Rowe’s financial services offering will be rolled out regionally at Martin Ward Anderson offices in the UK in key areas such as Manchester & Birmingham
• Both companies retain their current brand names while research is carried via an external agency to discover the business benefit in rebranding. A decision will follow in Q2 2010.
• Joslin Rowe and Martin Ward Anderson London staff will sit alongside each other in new offices on London Wall.
• No staff redundancies to either the sales force or central services departments such as marketing, IT or admin support are planned. Both firms will be actively hiring.

Ricks says: “This union makes sense. Both firms had already been reaping the rewards of sharing market intelligence, supplier contracts and back office support since 2008.

“Looking ahead to the next decade, the driver behind our official combination is to create a professional recruitment offering which can deliver far more than our competitors.

“Our mutual strengths, specialist knowledge and above all talented staff will ensure we have the platform to achieve more together and exceed our clients’ and candidates’ requirements.”