Business Continuity Plan

Business Continuity Plan

TRADERFIELD SECURITIES INC. BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN (BCP) TTRADERFIELD SECURITIES INC. BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN (BCP) TRADERFIELD SECURITIES INC. BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN (BCP) Emergency Contact Persons Our firm’s two (2) emergency contact persons are: Pat Russi, CCO, (516) 658-2889, craig.mandersona@mytraderfield.com Jenshine Wu, jenshine.wu@mytraderfield.com These names will be updated in the event of a material change, and Executive Representative will review then within 17 business days of the end of each quarter. Firm Policy Our firm’s policy is to respond to a Significant Business Disruptions (SBD) by safeguarding employees’ lives and firm property, making a financial and operational assessment, quickly recovering and resuming operations, protecting all of the firm’s books and records, and allowing our customers to transact business. In the event that we determine we are unable to continue our business, we will assure customers prompt access to their funds and securities. Significant Business Disruptions Our plan anticipates two kinds of SBDs, internal and external. Internal SBDs affect only our firm’s ability to communicate and do business, such as a fire in our building. External SBDs prevent the operation of the securities markets or a number of firms, such as a terrorist attack, a city flood, or a wide-scale, regional disruption. Our response to an external SBD relies more heavily on other organizations and systems, especially on the capabilities of our clearing firm. Approval and Execution Authority Pat Russi, CCO, is responsible for approving the plan and for conducting the required annual review. Tim Looney, CEO, has the authority to execute this BCP. Plan Location and Access Our firm will maintain copies of its BCP plan and the annual reviews, and the changes that have been made to it for inspection. We have given FINRA, NY a copy of our plan. An electronic copy of our plan is located on MYTRADERFIELD.COM. Business Description Our firm conducts business in equity, fixed income, and derivative securities. Our firm is an introducing firm and does not perform any type of clearing function for itself or others. Furthermore, we do not hold customer funds or securities. We accept and enter orders. All transactions are sent to our clearing firm, which (executes our orders) compares them, allocates them, clears and settles them. Our clearing firm also maintains our customers’ accounts, can grant customers access to them, and delivers funds and securities. Our firm services only retail customers. We do not engage in any private placements. Our clearing firm is: Axos Clearing 1200 Landmark Center, Suite 800 Omaha, NE 68102-1916 (800) 811-3487 www.axosclearing.com Our clearing firm has also given us the following alternative contact in the event it cannot be reached: Client Services: (866) 774-0218 Execution Services: (800) 776-5778 Office Location Our Firm has a branch office located at 33-70 Prince Street, Suite 805, Flushing, NY 11354, its main telephone is 212-966-9553. Our employees may travel to that office by means of foot, car, subway, train, and bus. We engage in order taking and entry at this location. Alternative Physical Location(s) of Employees In the event of an SBD, we will move our staff from affected offices to the closest of our unaffected office locations. If none of our other office locations is available to receive those staff, we will move them to 246 Gaynor St, Staten Island, NY 10312. Customers’ Access to Funds and Securities Our firm does not maintain custody of customers’ funds or securities, which are maintained at our clearing firm, Axos Clearing. In the event of an internal or external SBD, if telephone service is available, our registered persons will take customer orders or instructions and contact our clearing firm on their behalf. The firm will make this information available to customers through its disclosure policy. If SIPC determines that we are unable to meet our obligations to our customers or if our liabilities exceed our assets in violation of Securities Exchange Act Rule 15c3-1, SIPC may seek to appoint a trustee to disburse our assets to customers. We will assist SIPC and the trustee by providing our books and records identifying customer’s accounts subject to SIPC regulation. I. Data Back-Up and Recovery (Hard Copy and Electronic) Our firm maintains its primary hard copy books and records and its electronic records at 1010 Woodrow Road, Staten Island, NY, 10312. Pat Russi, CCO, telephone number (516) 658-2889, is responsible for the maintenance of these books and records. Our firm maintains its back-up hard copy books and records at 237 East 57 Street, New York, NY 11203. These records are focus report copies and quarterly monthly statements. Pat Russi, CCO, (516) 658-2889is responsible for maintenance of these back-up books and records. Our firm backs up its paper records by copying and taking them to our back-up site. We back up our records quarterly. The firm backs up its electronic records quarterly by maintaining focus report records and storage of customers’ monthly statement in disk, and keeps a copy at 246 Gaynor St, Staten Island, NY 10312. In the event of an internal or external SBD that causes the loss of our paper records, we will physically recover them from our backup site. If our primary site is inoperable, we will continue operations from our back-up site or an alternate location. For the loss of electronic records, we will either physically recover the storage media or electronically recover data from our back-up site, or, if our primary site is inoperable, continue operations from our back-up site or an alternate location. Financial and Operational Assessments Operation Risk In the event of an SBD, we will immediately identify what means will permit us to communicate with our customers, employees, critical business constituents, critical banks, critical counter-parties, and regulators. Although the effects of an SBD will determine the means of alternative communication, the communications options we will employ will include 315-723-5122, Info@mytraderfield.com. In addition, we will retrieve our key activity records as described in the section above, Data Back-Up and Recovery (Hard Copy and Electronic). Financial and Credit Risk In the event of an SBD, we will determine the value and liquidity of our investments and other assets to evaluate our ability to continue to fund our operations and remain in capital compliance. We will contact our clearing firm, critical banks, and investors to apprise them of our financial status. If we determine that we may be unable to meet our obligations to those counter-parties or otherwise continue to fund our operations, we will request additional financing from our bank or other credit sources to fulfill our obligations to our customers and clients. If we cannot remedy a capital deficiency, we will file appropriate notices with our regulators and immediately take appropriate steps, including temporary elimination of salaries of all directors, officers and employees. Mission Critical Systems Our firm’s “mission critical systems” are those that ensure prompt and accurate processing of securities transactions, including order taking, entry, execution, comparison, allocation, the maintenance of customer accounts, access to customer accounts and the delivery of funds and securities. More specifically, these systems include Axos clearing which handle and process our orders executions. We have primary responsibility for establishing and maintaining our business relationships with our customers and have sole responsibility for our mission critical functions of order taking (and) entry (and execution). Our clearing firm provides, through contract, the (execution,) comparison, allocation, clearance and settlement of securities transactions, the maintenance of customer accounts, access to customer accounts, and the delivery of funds and securities. Our clearing firm contract provides that our clearing firm will maintain a business continuity plan and the capacity to execute that plan. Our clearing firm represents that it will advise us of any material changes to its plan that might affect our ability to maintain our business (and presented us with an executive summary of its plan, which is attached). In the event our clearing firm executes its plan, it represents that it will notify us of such execution and provide us equal access to services as its other customers, if we reasonably determine that our clearing firm has not or cannot put its plan in place quickly enough to meet our needs, or is otherwise unable to provide access to such services, our clearing firm represents that it will assist us in seeking services from an alternative source. Our clearing firm represents that it backs up our records at a remote (or, preferably, out of region) site. Our clearing firm represents that it operates a back-up operating facility in a geographically separate area with the capability to conduct the same volume of business as its primary site. Our clearing firm has also confirmed the effectiveness of its back-up arrangements to recover from a wide scale disruption by testing, and it has confirmed that it tests its back-up arrangements every time period). Recovery-time objectives provide concrete goals to plan for and test against. They are not, however, hard and fast deadlines that must be met in every emergency situation, and various external factors surrounding a disruption, such as time of day, scope of disruption, and status of critical infrastructure- particularly telecommunications-can affect actual recovery times. Recovery refers to the restoration of clearing and settlement activities after a wide- scale disruption; resumption refers to the capacity to accept and process new transactions and payments after a wide-scale disruption. Our clearing firm has the following SBD recovery time and resumption objectives: recovery time period of (e.g., within 4 hours); and resumption time of (e.g., within the same business day. Pat Russi will periodically review our clearing firm's capabilities to perform the mission critical functions the clearing firm has contracted to perform for our firm. Our firm’s Mission Critical Systems 1. Order taking Currently, our firm receives orders from customers via telephone and in person visits by the customer. During an SBD, either internal or external, we will continue to take orders through any of these methods that are available and reliable, and in addition, as communications permit, we will inform our customers when communications become available to tell them what alternatives they have to send their orders to us. Customers will be informed of alternatives by visiting our office. If necessary, we will advise our customers to place orders directly with our clearing firm at: Axos Clearing Client Services: (866) 774-0218 Trading Desk: (800) 776-5778 2. Order Entry Currently, our firm enters orders by recording them on paper and electronically and sending them to our clearing firm electronically or telephonically. Alternatively, Axos Clearing contracts with their third parties that support its mission-critical systems maintained at a predetermined service levels. Our clearing firm advises that within approximately 4 hours recovery of order services and order execution services within approximately 4 hours. In the event of an internal SBD, we will enter and send records to our clearing firm by the fastest alternative means available, which include messenger In the event of an external SBD, we will maintain the order in electronic or paper format, and deliver the order to the clearing firm by the fastest means available when it resumes operations. In addition, during an internal SBD, we may need to refer to our customers to deal directly with our clearing firm for order entry. 2. We do not execute orders. 3. Other Services Currently Provided to Customer We have no other services currently provided to customers. Mission Critical Systems Provided by Our Clearing Firm Our firm relies, by contract, on our clearing firm to provide order execution, order comparison, order allocation, and the maintenance of customer accounts, delivery of funds and securities, and access to customer accounts. II. Alternate Communications Between Form and Customers, Employees and Regulators Customers We now communicate with our customers using the telephones, U S mail and in person visits at our firm or at the other’s location. In the event of an SBD, we will assess which means of communication are still available to us,and use the means closest in speed and form (written or oral) to the means that we have used in the past to communicate with the other party. For example, if we have communicated with a party by e-mail but the internet is unavailable, we will call them on the telephone and follow up where a record is needed with paper copy in the U. S. mail. Employees We now communicate with our employees using telephone and in person. In the event of an SBD, we will assess which means of communication are still available to us,and use the means closest in speed and form (written or oral) to the means that we have used in the past to communicate with the other party. We will also employ a call tree so that senior management can reach all employees quickly during an SBD. The call tree includes all staff home and office phone numbers. We have identified persons, noted below, who live near each other and may reach each other in person: The person to invoke use of the call tree is: Yang Wei Hung Caller Call Recipients Pat Russi, Jenshine Wu Regulators We are currently members of the following SRO’s: FINRA. We communicate with our regulators using the telephone, e-mail, fax, U.S. mail, and in person. In the event of an SBD, we will assess which means of communication are still available to us, and use the means closest in speed and form (written or oral) to the means that we have used in the past to communicate with the other party. Critical Business Constituents, Banks, and Counter-Parties Business Constituents We have no major business with which we have an ongoing commercial relationship in support of our operating activities. Banks We have contacted our banks and lenders to determine if they can continue to provide the financing that we will need in light of the internal or external SBD. The bank maintaining our operating account is: Harris BMO Bank. Counter-Parties We have contacted our critical counter- parties, such as other brokerage- dealers or institutional customers, to determine if we will be able to carry out our transactions with them in light of the internal or external SBD. Where the transactions cannot be completed, we will work with our clearing firm or contact those counter-parties directly to make alternative arrangements to complete those transactions as soon as possible. Regulatory Reporting Our firm is subject to regulation by : FINRA and SEC. We now file reports with our regulators using paper copies in the U. S. mail, and electronically using fax, e-mail, and the internet. In the event of an SBD, we will check with the SEC, FINRA, and other regulators to determine which means of filing are still available to us, and use the means closest in speed and form (written or oral) to our previous filing method. In the event that we cannot contact our regulators, we will continue to file required reports using the communication means available to us. FINRA SEC One Liberty Plaza, 47th fl. 3 World Financial Center, STE 400 New York, NY 10006 New York, NY 10281 212-858-4232 212-336-1100 Disclosure of Business Continuity Plan We disclose in writing a copy of our BCP to customers at account opening. Our summary addresses the possibility of a future SBD and how we plan to respond to events of varying scope. In addressing the events of varying scope, our summary (1) provides specific scenarios of varying severity (e.g., a firm-only business disruption, a disruption to single building, a disruption to a business district, a city- wide business disruption, and a regional disruption): (2) states whether we plan to continue business during that scenario and, if so, our planned recovery time; and (3) provides general information on our intended response. Our summary discloses the existence of back-up facilities and arrangements. We also post the disclosure statement on our website and mail it to customer upon request. Updates and Annual Review Our firm will update this plan whenever we have a material change to our operations, structure, business or location or to those of our clearing firm. In addition, our firm will review this BCP annually, on December 30, to modify it for any changes in our operations, structure, business, or location or those of our clearing firm. Senior Manager Approval I have approved this Business Continuity Plan as reasonably designed to enable our firm to meet its obligations to customers in the event of an SBD. Signed: Pat Russi Title : CCO Date : November 19, 2022