Business Continuity Plan Statement
The protection of one's personal information is the type of thing that every
online trader needs to be able to take for granted. At optionsXpress, we consider
it to be among our most important responsibilities.
optionsXpress has prepared a Business Continuity Plan ("BCP") outlining how we will respond to events that significantly disrupt our business. The plan is fluid and is meant to be used as a general guide because of the difficulty in planning for the impact of spontaneous disasters and disruptions.
Contacting optionsXpress
In the event of a Significant Business Disruption ("SBD") at any one of our locations, you should be able to contact one of our other locations using the same general toll free number of (888) 280-8020. If you can not contact us using the toll free number, you should:
- Call one of our alternate numbers (Chicago: 312-630-3300 and El Paso: 915-544-5300);
- Use Live Help; or
- E-mail us.
Our Business Continuity Plan
In the event of a SBD, optionsXpress plans to quickly recover and resume business operations by the safeguarding of employees and property, by making a financial and operational assessment, by protecting the Firm’s Books and Records, and by allowing our customers to continue transacting business. In short, our BCP is designed to allow our Firm to recover and resume operations as soon as possible, taking into account the scope and severity of the SBD.
The optionsXpress BCP addresses: data back up and recovery; all mission critical systems; financial and operational assessments; alternative communications with customers , employees, and regulators; alternative physical locations 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.
We back-up some of 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 as soon as possible.
Varying Disruptions
Significant business disruptions may vary in their scope, i.e., only optionsXpress is affected, the 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 an alternate site outside of the affected area and recover and resume business as quickly as possible. 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 as quickly as possible. In either situation, we plan to continue our business and notify you through our web site or via recorded message on our phone system how to contact us.
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Questions?
Access live help or call us:
(888) 280-8020
