Business Continuity
Wachovia Securities, LLC and Wachovia Securities Financial Network, LLC (hereinafter collectively referred to as "Wachovia Securities") along with their clearing agent, First Clearing, LLC are committed to protecting the interests of our clients and shareholders. The following information concerns our efforts to ensure that impact to your business is minimized in the event of an emergency or disaster.
Securities industry regulations require each broker-dealer to create and maintain a business continuity plan tailored to the size and need of the member and reasonably designed to enable the member to meet its existing obligations to its clients or other counter-parties. In accordance with these requirements, Wachovia Securities has designed a business continuity plan to address possible scenarios in efforts to minimize any service impact to our clients.
In keeping with the regulatory requirements, the business continuity plan for Wachovia Securities is designed to address key areas of concern -- including, but not limited to, the following:
- Data back-up and recovery
- Mission-critical systems
- Financial and operational assessments
- Alternate means of communication between the firm and its clients
- Alternate means of communication between the firm and its employees
- Alternate physical locations of employees
- Critical business constituent, bank and counter-party impact
- Regulatory reporting
- Communications with regulators
- How Wachovia Securities will ensure that clients have access to their funds and securities in the unlikely event that Wachovia Securities determines it is unable to continue its business
Since events creating disruption of business may vary in nature and scope, Wachovia Securities has anticipated scenarios in which the following are affected:
- A Wachovia Securities branch location
- A primary Wachovia Securities building at its headquarters location
- A citywide area
- A regional area
Regardless of the scope of potential disruption, Wachovia Securities will strive to continue to provide services to its clients. In the event where a Wachovia Securities branch location is affected, the firm has designed a contingency plan where client telephone calls will automatically be re-routed to a separate location, either to another branch or to the headquarters. Additionally, Wachovia Securities clients can access their accounts in various ways, including, but not limited to, telephoning Wachovia Securities Direct, visiting any of our branch offices, or through our online services at www.wachoviasec.com. These alternative access methods are provided so that our clients are able to maintain consistent and constant access to their accounts.
In the event where a primary building or business district is affected, the firm is fortunate to have a divided corporate presence in the Richmond, VA and St Louis, MO areas. The facilities in both areas are also served by UPS systems and have 24-hour security services. Should one of the primary buildings in Richmond or St. Louis be affected by a disruption, alternate facilities exist in each area that can be used to help restore operations.
In the unlikely event of a citywide or regional disruption, Wachovia Securities has established recovery sites approximately 150 miles from the Richmond area and 28 miles from its St Louis headquarters that can be used to restore time sensitive functions as soon as key employees are relocated to the facility. Additionally, as a subsidiary of Wachovia Corporation, Wachovia Securities would intend to take advantage of any available facilities of other Wachovia Corporation affiliates that may be located in other geographic regions. In the event that any such disruption occurs, we have developed alternative service arrangements, systems, locations, and contingency plans to ensure that any service affected is quickly restored.
Wachovia Securities has identified several computer applications with Mission Critical or High criticality ratings and has documented this within the business continuity plans. Our primary application provider, Thomson Transaction Services, Inc. has conducted successful testing with Wachovia Securities, generally two or three times per year since November 2000. Finally, through its parent company, Wachovia Securities utilizes data centers, located in other states, which regularly perform disaster recovery testing.
At a minimum, the Wachovia Securities business continuity plan is reviewed, updated, and tested on an annual basis. Additionally, our primary internal and external application providers periodically conduct testing of their own back-up capabilities to ensure that, in the event of an emergency or significant business disruption, they will be able to provide us with the critical information and applications we need to continue or promptly resume our business.
Making sure that any type of disruption does not unduly impact our clients is extremely important to us, and our business continuity plan is designed to allow us to continue to provide the quality service you have come to expect from Wachovia Securities.
