Firm SBD - Strategic Planning and Implementation

Transcription

1 Bley Investment Group, Inc. Business Continuity Plan Firm Policy It is the policy of the Firm to respond to a Significant Business Disruption (SBD) by safeguarding employees lives and firm property, making a financial and operational assessment, quickly recovering and resuming operations, protecting all of the firm s books and records, and allowing our customers to transact business. In an effort to achieve said objective, the Firm has adopted the following Business Continuity Plan ( BCP ) to ensure its customer prompt access to their funds and securities. Nature of the Firm s Business and Operational Structure In developing its business continuity plan, the Firm undertook a review of its operational structure, types of business it engages in, and its obligations to its customer and existing business relationships with other broker-dealers and counter-parties. The Firm operates pursuant to the (k)(2)(ii) exemption of SEC Rule 15c3-3. Therefore, all customer funds and securities are held by the Firm s clearing firms, Pershing or CAPIS. Further, the Firm forwards all customers order for execution to its clearing firms. The firm also engages in selling mutual funds on an application basis and variable annuities. In both instances the customer funds and securities are forwarded to the mutual fund or insurance company. With respect to variable annuities, the contracts will be forwarded to the customer either by the insurance company or the Firm. Significant Business Disruptions ( SBDs ) The firm s plan anticipates two kinds of SBDs, internal and external. Internal SBDs affect only the firm s ability to communicate and do business, such as a fire in at our main office located at 4200 S. Hulen Street, Suite #519, Fort Worth, TX External SBDs prevent the operation of the securities markets or a number of firms, such as a terrorist attack, a city flood, or a widescale, regional disruption. Plan Location and Access The Compliance Officer will be responsible for maintaining copies of our Business Continuity Plan, annual reviews and amendments. Copies of the BCP will be maintained at the Firm s main office, at the home of the primary and secondary emergency contacts. Emergency Contact Persons The Firm has designated the following persons as its emergency contacts. The name and contact information will be made available to the firm s customers through its disclosure and will be posted on the firm s website at Primary Contact Name: Laura Bley Phone number: (817) Cellular: (817) address: laurab@bleyinvestments.com Secondary Contact Name: Kristin Wilson Phone number: (513) Cellular: (513) address: kristin@bleyinvestments.com address: klbley@aol.com

2 The emergency contact information will be updated in the event of a material change. Further, the contact information will be reviewed by the Chief Compliance Officer as part of the quarterly contact information review as described in Section 2 of this manual. Data Back-up and Recovery The Firm maintains its primary hard copy books and records and its electronic records at its main office located at: 4200 S. Hulen Street Suite #519 Fort Worth, TX (817) At the main office the firm maintains the following document types and forms which are not transmitted to the clearing firm: Customer Account Records Customer Correspondence Firm Correspondence Exemption Reports Trade Logs Financial Records Employee Records Corporate Records The Firm will maintain a back-up copy hard copy of its books and records at the following location: 5847 Merrymount Road Forth Worth, TX (817) Pershing backs up the Firm s electronic records daily by saving on all essential business records on the server. On a monthly basis a copy of the records stored will be saved on CD-ROMs and taken to the back-up location identified above. Essential paper records will be copied and taken to back-up site on a quarterly basis. In the event of an internal or external SBD which causes the losses of records at the main office location, the Firm will recover them from the back-up site. Ms. Laura Bley, President, is responsible for the maintenance of the Firm s books and records both at the main office, designated recovery location and through Pershing. All Mission Critical Systems A mission critical system is any system will is necessary to ensure prompt and accurate processing of securities transactions. As mentioned, the Firm is an introducing broker dealer and as such it relies on its clearing firms to provide the systems necessary for order entry, execution, comparison, allocation, clearance and settlement, maintenance of customer account balances and access to customer funds and securities. In the case of direct mutual funds and variable annuities customer, the firm relies on the systems of the mutual fund and insurance companies. As part of the BCP, the Firm will obtain a copy of its clearing firms continuity plans. Copies of the clearing firms BCPs will be maintained by Ms. Laura Bley both at the main office and at the back-site to ensure business continuity. In the event of either an internal or external SBD, the Firm will post information on its website to instruct the customers with respect to entering orders and obtaining access to their funds and

3 securities. The instructions provided to the customer will vary depending on the nature, extend and the entities affected by the SBD. Financial and Operational Assessments Operational Risk In the event of an SBD, the Designated Principal will immediately identify what means will permit the Firm to communicate with our customers, employees, critical business constituents, critical banks, critical counter-parties, and regulators. Although the effects of an SBD will determine the means of alternative communication, the communications options we will employ will include telephone, voice mail, web site and . The latter can be accessed from any location. In addition, the Firm will retrieve key activity records as described in the section above, Data Back-Up and Recovery. Financial and Credit Risk In the event of an SBD, the FINOP will determine the value and liquidity of the Firm s investments and other assets to evaluate the Firm s ability to continue to fund operations and remain in capital compliance. The FINOP will contact our clearing firm, critical banks, and investors to apprise them of the Firm s financial status. In the event a determination is made that the Firm cannot meet its obligations to those counter-parties or otherwise continue to fund operations, the FINOP will take the steps necessary to obtain additional financing from financial institutions or investor. If the net capital deficiency cannot be remedy, the FINOP will file all required notifications to the appropriate regulatory authorities and take the steps necessary to assist customers in transferring their accounts to other broker/dealers. Alternate Communications with Customers The Firm communicates with its customers via telephone, , our Web site, fax, U.S. mail, and in person at the main office or at the customer s location. In the event of an SBD, the Compliance Officer will assess which means of communication are still available and post on the Firm s website the available means through which customers can get contact the Firm. In addition, directions for forwarding phone lines are in file. Alternate Communications with Employees The Firm communicates with its employees via telephone, , our Web site, fax, U.S. mail, and in person at the main office or at the customer s location. In the event of an SBD, the Compliance Officer will assess which means of communication are still available and post on the Firm s website the available means through which customers can contact the Firm. Further, the Firm has adopted the following calling to ensure that all employees are quickly informed of any contingency plans the Firm has undertaken. The person to invoke use of the call tree is: Laura Bley Laura Bley Tina Lopez Caller Call Recipients Tina Lopez Jennifer Bley Milton Bley Kristin Wilson Melissa Reed Camellia Lowry Marianne Howard Ned Hammond Michael Bernstein Jeffrey Rothenberg Shannon Plowman

4 Part-Time Employees Alternative Physical Location of Employees In the event of an internal SBD at the Firm s main office location, all staff is instructed to report at the following alternative physical location: 5847 Merrymount Road Forth Worth, TX (817) Critical Business Constituents, Bank and Counter-Parties The Firm conducted a review of its business constituents, banking and counter-party relationships. The Firm s operations are relatively simple in terms of the supplies that Firm needs to continue operations. Any office supply and electronics store would be a position to supply the Firm with the materials and equipment it needs to continue its operations. With respect to banking relationships, the firm maintains its operating accounts at: Frost Bank 4200 S. Hulen St Fort Worth TX Steve Boma or Julie (817) The Firm has had a relationship with the above banks for 12 years and the Firm has received assurances that in the event of a SBD additional lines of credit will be available to ensure business continuity. The bank maintaining the Firm s Proprietary Account of Introducing Brokers/Dealers (PAIB account) is: Pershing LLC One Pershing Plaza Jersey City NJ Carl Brazendale (630) The Firm has contacted its critical counter-parties, such as other broker-dealers or institutional customers, to determine whether the Firm will be able to carry out transactions with them in light of the internal or external SBD. Where the transactions cannot be completed, the Firm will work with the clearing firms or contact those counter-parties directly to make alternative arrangements to complete those transactions as soon as possible. Regulatory Reporting The Firm primarily files its reports to regulators via the Internet. In the event of an internal SBD at the main office location, the Firm will be in a position to comply with its regulatory reporting from any location where the Internet is available. Communications with Regulators The Firm is currently as member of the NASD. The Firm communicates with regulators using the telephone, , fax, U.S. mail, and in person. In the event of an SBD, the Compliance Officer will assess which means of communication are still available and use the means closest in speed and form (written or oral) to communicate with regulators. Customer Access to Funds and Securities The Firm does not maintain custody of customers funds or securities, which are primarily maintained at clearing firm, Pershing. In the event of an internal or external SBD, if telephone service is available, registered persons will take customer orders or instructions and contact the clearing firm on their behalf, and if Web access is available, the Compliance Officer will post on our

5 Web site that customers may access their funds and securities by contacting customer Service at Pershing. The Firm will make this information available to customers through its disclosure policy. If SIPC determines that the Firm is unable to meet its obligations to customers or if the Firm s liabilities exceed assets in violation of Securities Exchange Act Rule 15c3-1, SIPC may seek to appoint a trustee to disburse our assets to customers. The Firm will assist SIPC and the trustee by providing our books and records identifying customer accounts subject to SIPC regulation. Disclosure of Business Continuity Plan The Firm will disclose in writing a summary of our BCP to customers at account opening and also the disclosure will be available on the Firm s web site at all times (see Form #3 in the Forms and Letters section of the manual). Further, the Firm will mail the disclosure to customers upon request. The disclosure will: (1) provide specific scenarios of varying severity (e.g., a firm-only business disruption, a disruption to a single building, a disruption to a business district, a city-wide business disruption, and a regional disruption); (2) state whether the Firm plans to continue business during that each scenario and, if so, the planned recovery time; (3) provide general information on the Firm s intended response; and (4) discloses the existence of back-up facilities and arrangements. Updates and Annual Review The Compliance Officer will update this plan whenever there is a material change to the Firm s operations, structure, business or location or clearing firm. At a minimum, the Compliance Officer will review this BCP annually to ensure that it is current and enables the Firm to meet its existing obligations to customers. Approval and Execution Authority Laura Bley, a registered principal, is responsible for approving the plan and for conducting the required annual review. Ms. Bley, President, has the authority to execute this BCP. Appendix G of this manual contains senior management s approval of the Firm s BCP.