Business Continuity Plan
EarlyBirdCapital Inc.'s Business Continuity Planning
EarlyBirdCapital Inc. ("EBCI") 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 (631) 770-0600 or (212) 661-0200 or directly with your Account Executive, you should call our alternative number (631) 943-5701. If you cannot access us through either of those means, you should contact our clearing firm, Edna Palacios, Wedbush Securities at (213) 688-4552 or (213) 688-4568 (www.wedbush.com) for instructions on how they may liquidate a position, facilitate a check or wire request, send a stock certificate or assist with an ACAT.
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 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, Wedbush, 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 maybe temporarily delayed. 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 an hour. 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 as soon as possible depending upon the type of outage. In either situation, we plan to continue in business, transfer operations to our clearing firm if necessary, and notify you through our website www.earlybirdcapital.com or our customer emergency number, (631) 770-0600 or (631) 943-5701 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 (631) 770-0600.
Disclaimer
EBCI's comprehensive business continuity strategy is designed to enable us to meet our existing obligations to our clients and customers even in the event of an emergency or significant business disruption; however it is not infallible. The plan is designed to work in many different emergency situations; but these events are, by their nature, unpredictable and it is impossible to anticipate every scenario that could cause a business disruption. Furthermore, although we are confident in our own preparedness, EBCI has no control over the various entities that we must rely upon in the event of an emergency. Our business continuity plans are tested periodically to ensure readiness; yet such tests may not be able to replicate the actual conditions we experience in a real emergency. This BCP is subject to change without notice. In the event that this BCP is modified, the updated document will be promptly posted on our internet website. Alternatively, customers may obtain an updated hard copy BCP upon request. The information contained in this disclosure is provided by EBCI for informational purposes only. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to amend, supplement or otherwise modify any of the terms and conditions set forth in any customer agreement between you and EBCI.