Ridgewood Associates 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 201-478-7788, you should call our alternative number 201-803-9188 or go to our website at www.rgwd.com. As a client of Ridgewood Associates, we recognize you may need access to your account to sell a position or request a check before we can re-establish telephone or other communication services with you.  During this time, our clearing firm, First Clearing, LLC, will assist you with sell or liquidation orders and provide check disbursements, as required.  If you cannot contact our firm by any means, please call First Clearing, LLC for assistance at 877-496-3223
 
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, First Clearing, LLC, regularly backs up its important information 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, First Clearing, LLC has a thorough Business Continuation Plan in place.  First Clearing has advised us that its objective is to restore its own operations in order to complete existing transactions and accept new transactions and payments in a timely manner

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 1 day. 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 a few days. In either situation, we plan to continue in business, transfer operations to our clearing firm if necessary, and notify you through our website www.rgwd.com or our customer emergency number, 201-803-9188 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 201-478-7788 or amarino@rgwd.com.