5/11/2009
Please don't interpret this story as one more example of the news media hawking fears of swine flu. While the news saturation of the new strain of influenza A virus H1N1 seems to have fizzled with the reduced threat of a broader pandemic, the virus did claim several lives and sicken many others and ...
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10/13/2008
Hurricane Ike had barely exited Texas before the SEC began contacting advisers around Houston to see how they were faring. Advisers in Iowa received similar calls after flood waters ravaged Cedar Rapids earlier this spring. Both cases argue for the importance of a sound BCP.There is no requirement ...
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9/22/2008
There's not much left of the offices of Texas Capital Management ($50 million AUM) in Baytown, Texas. Hurricane Ike ripped its building's roof off, the office's ceiling collapsed and the storm left four inches of water sloshing on the floor. Yet the 22-year-old RIA didn't miss a beat - thanks to its ...
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7/28/2008
As one advisory firm in Iowa dealt with the effects of flood waters that were rising to record levels in June, it got a shocking call from an SEC official inquiring about the firm's business continuity plan (BCP)."I was really surprised" to hear of the call, says Carrie Ball, Investment Division Inf ...
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4/28/2008
Many investment advisers have banned instant messaging in their firms, but even that formal step might not be enough for some compliance programs. "Go beyond banning instant messaging," says Weston Howland III, president and CCO of Howland Capital Management ($900M AUM/26 employees). Howland recomme ...
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01/14/2008
The death of hedge fund manager Michael Klein, 37, in a private plane crash just before Christmas underscored the importance of advisory firms' having a succession plan in place. Following its succession plan, Klein's Pacificor moved to install senior portfolio manager Andy Mitchell as CEO just days ...
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12/17/2007
Crisis Team Inc.'s Roseanne Rostron considers the following issues to be key business continuity planning concerns: Firms adopting minimum standards and not getting all personnel into the loop. "You may not be there and you could be a key knowledge holder, so the plan should provide a 'roadmap' for ...
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12/17/2007
The contact information in your business continuity plan should be updated more frequently than any other component, said two consulting professionals who recently shared their tips for effective BCPs with IA Week."Key personnel changes should be updated, phone numbers and contacts must be current a ...
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11/12/2007
The recent California wildfires have highlighted the need for investment advisers' to have robust disaster preparedness plans and to enter into strategic partnerships with other firms and industry vendors. Small firms in particular can benefit from these partnerships.Coincidentally, about two weeks ...
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09/10/2007
Investment advisers have gotten into the swing of compliance testing, but there may be some gaps in what they test.A new survey found that 57% of firms conduct compliance testing on a rolling basis throughout the year, and 30% conduct it annually. Some 11% conduct testing on a quarterly basis, and 2 ...
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