Thomas Weisel Partners Business Continuity Plan Disclosure
Thomas Weisel Partners has developed a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) as part of our ongoing contingency planning efforts to mitigate the impacts of business interruptions. 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.
Thomas Weisel Partners plans to quickly recover and resume business operations after a Significant Business Disruption (SBD) and respond by safeguarding employees’ lives and firm 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 firms National Financial Services (NFS) and Bear Stearns Securities Corp. (BSSC), back up their important records in a geographically separate area. 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 firms that based on their tested backup processes, key functions should be available in less than one hour. Full functionality should be available in less than a day.
Significant business disruptions can vary in their scope. For example, an SBD affecting 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 either situation, we plan to continue in business, transfer operations to our clearing firm if necessary, and notify you through our web site www.tweisel.com or our main customer number regarding how to contact us. In cases of an extreme disruption where you cannot access us through either of those means, you should contact National Financial Services at 617-563-5977 for instructions on how it may provide prompt access to funds and securities. Please note that if your account begins with the three-digit account prefix of either 780 or 781, you should contact Bear Stearns Securities Corp at 347-643-4927 for liquidating orders, check and wire requests, and ACAT transfers only. 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.
The Thomas Weisel Partners BCP is reviewed periodically and subject to modification without notice. Updates to the plan summary will be posted on the Firm’s website at www.tweisel.com. A written copy of the summary of our BCP is provided to customers at account opening, posted on the Firm’s website, and provided to customers upon request.
If you have questions about our business continuity planning, please email us at BCP@tweisel.com.
