Westminster Financial Securities, Inc. has developed a Business Continuity Plan on how we will respond to events that significantly disrupt our business. Since the timing and impact of disasters and disruptions is unpredictable, we will have to be flexible in responding to actual events as they occur. With that in mind, we are providing you with this information on our business continuity plan.
Contacting Us-If after a significant business disruption you cannot contact us as you usually do at (937) 898-5010, you may contact us at our Emergency Phone Number which is (561) 588-1114. This is the phone number for our West Palm Beach, Florida branch office, which will serve as our immediate emergency backup location. If you are unable to contact as at either of these numbers, go to our web site to obtain instructions on how to contact us and obtain access to the funds and/or securities in your account and to access trading and related services. Our web site address is www.westminsterfinancial.com.
If you cannot access us through these means, you should contact our clearing firm, Pershing LLC at (201) 413-3635 to receive recorded instructions or go to their website at www.pershing.com for instructions on how they will assist you in obtaining market sensitive services such as trading, cash and security transfers to your account and provide you access to the funds and/or securities held in your account.
Our Business Continuity Plan- We plan to quickly recover and resume business operations after a significant business disruption and respond by safeguarding our employees and property, making a financial and operational assessment, protecting the firm’s books and records, and allowing our customers to transact business. In short, our business continuity plan is designed to permit our firm to resume operations as quickly as possible, given the scope and severity of the significant business disruption.
Our business continuity plan addresses: data backup and recovery; all mission critical systems; financial and operational assessments; alternative communications with customers, employees, and regulators; alternate physical locations of employees; critical supplier, contractor, bank and counter-party impact; regulatory reporting; and assuring our customers prompt access to their funds and securities if we are unable to continue our business.
Our clearing firm, Pershing, LLC, backs up our important records in a geographically separate area. While every emergency situation poses unique problems based on external factors, such as time of day and the severity of the disruption, we have been advised by our clearing firm that its objective is to restore its own operations and be able to complete existing transactions and accept new transactions and payments within 4 hours after a significant business disruption. Your orders and requests for funds and securities could be delayed during this period.
Varying Disruptions- Significant business disruptions can vary in their scope, such as only our firm, a single building housing our firm, the business district where our firm is located, the city where we are located, or the whole region. Within each of these areas, the severity of the disruption can also vary from minimal to severe. In a disruption to only our firm or a building housing our firm, we will transfer our operations to a local site when needed and expect to recover and resume business within 24 hours. In a disruption affection our business district , city, or region, we will transfer our operations to a site outside of the affected area, and recover and resume business within 48 hours. In either situation, we plan to continue in business, transfer operations to our clearing firm if necessary, and notify you through our web site, www.westminsterfinancial.com how to contact us. If the significant business disruption is so severe that it prevents us from remaining in business, we will assure our customer’s prompt access to their funds and securities.
For More Information- If you have questions about our business continuity planning, you can contact us at (937) 898-5010 or by email at info@westminsterfinancial.com.
