For Mark L. Zammit, translation is not simply a service. “Translation is the core, the bread and butter of the company,” he says. It is the foundation on which ATCS was built and the engine that has sustained it for over a decade. 

Recognised by Malta’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the law courts and Identità, ATCS is a key provider of certified translations for residency permits, court proceedings and government documentation. “We have been working as the nation’s recognised translation centre,” Mr Zammit explains. “Government agencies, the courts of Malta, visa and public registry authorities do the translations with us.” 

Operating fully online, the company relies on a worldwide network of native translators. “We translate any language that exists at this point in time,” he says, noting that ATCS covers more than 150 languages. Speed is part of its competitive edge. “We translate very fast, sometimes within 24 hours if need be, and at the lowest cost possible for the customer.” 

The business model is deliberately lean. “Because we are a family business, we can keep our costs very low. We use an international network instead of hiring people to physically work for us. It’s a business model we have had since 2012, and it has been working for us quite deeply.” 

Clients range from individuals submitting personal documents to law firms, insurance companies and pharmaceutical entities. Specialist work is handled by experts in the relevant field. “We have lawyers that are translators, native translators who are lawyers, and we have proofreaders who are lawyers,” Mr Zammit says. “The translations all get proofread as a principle.” 

In a market increasingly saturated with artificial intelligence tools, ATCS draws a clear line between automated output and certified accountability. “A large language model (LLM) cannot certify documentation,” he states. “Plus, an LLM makes many mistakes. For any serious matter, you need the human element.” 

Mr Zammit acknowledges that technology is transforming the industry but insists that responsibility cannot be outsourced to algorithms. “Clients sometimes come and say, ‘I used Google Translate. All I want is you to certify it.’ We won’t do that.” In sectors such as criminal court cases or regulatory filings, accuracy is non negotiable. “We translate for the law courts in Malta. Sometimes it’s documentation that goes abroad. You have to be extremely careful that it’s accurate, up to date and not faulty.” 

Confidentiality is equally central. “Data protection is extremely important in our business because we’re working with personal data,” Mr Zammit explains. “Not only personal data, but contractual data and legal case data. You have to have that level of trust to provide the service.” 

While translation remains the company’s anchor, business consultancy has emerged as a second pillar. “The business consultancy is my personal intellectual property,” Mr Zammit says. With over 30 years of experience in financial services, insurance, funds, and regulatory compliance, he now advises firms through a governance, risk and compliance framework. 

“I’m certified in compliance. I’m an in house lawyer. I’m certified as a risk manager by the Federation of European Risk Management Associations,” he notes. His previous role as Chief Risk and Compliance Officer within a major automotive financial services group saw him overseeing compliance, anti-money laundering, data protection, and risk management functions simultaneously. “We actually write the documentation ourselves. The policies that everybody just sticks on their website, that’s my writing.” 

Financial services remains his primary consultancy focus, largely because of the pace of regulatory change. “Regulation has changed and will continue to change,” he says. “ESG, for example, has changed from corporate governance to environment, social and governance. But everybody is just using ESG as a tick box exercise.” 

According to Mr Zammit, many boards approach ESG as a minimum compliance requirement. “They ask, ‘What is the minimum that we need to do to satisfy the regulator?’ And that’s as far as they go.” He is critical of what he describes as over engineered reporting with little substance. “You have these 500 page ESG disclosures. If you press them, not even one drop of essence comes out.” 

He believes the imbalance lies in the overemphasis on environmental targets at the expense of social considerations. “We’re all focusing on the environment. But the social aspect is in the middle, and nobody is thinking about it properly. How are we going to leave not only the planet, but how are we going to leave our children to live like we have lived?” 

Risk management, in his view, extends far beyond financial services. “Risk is everywhere,” Mr Zammit says plainly. “Every single company, every single industry requires risk management.” Since the 2008 financial crisis, the discipline has shifted from a back office function to a board level priority. “Risk management used to be a box-ticking exercise. After 2008, it came into the limelight. Now, it reports directly to the board.” 

He frequently refers to black swan events, rare but high impact disruptions that organisations fail to anticipate. Cyber security, he warns, may represent the next major systemic risk. “Our dependency on the Internet of Things and on AI is growing. It’s opening us up to a lot of risk,” he says. “If somebody infiltrates the systems that run electricity plants or traffic lights and holds a country to ransom, what happens?” 

Yet he does not advocate rejecting technology outright. “Everything that we create, we create from good intention,” he reflects. “But as humans, some of us use something that is good to our advantage and manipulate it. History repeats itself.” 

Balancing foresight with pragmatism appears to define his approach. As a lecturer in advanced enterprise risk management, banking and ESG, he engages with future professionals while advising current boards. He travels extensively, lectures internationally and is currently pursuing a PhD, all while running the family business. 

“It’s called prioritisation,” Mr Zammit says when asked how he manages it all. “I don’t stop. I work during the day, sometimes during the night, during weekends. But I prioritise well.” 

Ultimately, whether certifying court documents or advising boards on governance structures, Mr Zammit returns to the same principle. “You have to be responsible,” he says. In a world defined by regulatory flux, technological acceleration and geopolitical uncertainty, that insistence on responsibility has become ATCS’s defining currency.