| U.S. Brokerage, Inc.
Business Continuity Plan
U.S. Brokerage, 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 614.448.3200 or 800.25.STOCK,
you should call our alternative number (440.554.7427) or go to
our web site at www.usbrokerageinc.com. If you cannot access us
through either of those means, you should contact our clearing
firm, Southwest Securities, at 214.859.1800 for trading and 214.859.1080
for instructions on how it may help obtain funds or make deposits
to your account. Penson also provides a web site https://myview.swst.com/swstclearing/ that can provide complete account information such as balances,
positions, trade history and cash movement detail.
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 back up and recovery;
all mission critical systems; financial and operational assessments;
alternative communications with customers, employees, and regulators;
alternate physical location 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, Southwest Securities, 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 a reasonable period of time. 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 1
business day. In a disruption affecting 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 2
business days. 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.usbrokerageinc.com or our customer
emergency number (440.554.7427), 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 614.448.3200.
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