DARWOOD ASSOCIATES BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING STATEMENT
Darwood Associates (‘Darwood’) maintains important disaster recovery and business continuity plans that may be implemented in the event a disruption in services. Darwood realizes the importance of being able to continue services and operations for our clients, and maintains a plan to continue to provide ‘mission critical’ operations in the event of any event that may cause a significant disruption in business. These plans provide for continuation of business and emergency procedures as required by the securities industry regulations.
Darwood has considered a number of outcomes in various scenarios, including for example, single building problems, and citywide or regional disasters. The plans provide for continuation of critical operations at alternative sites. The plans also include alternative forms of communication with our clients and our clearing firm, RBC Correspondent Services (RBC CS), and also include alternate communications between our customers and our clearing firm if necessary. In cases of extreme disruption, where continuation would be impractical or in the best interest of our clients or the firm, we maintain plans to allow our clients prompt access to their funds and securities.
Clients should be aware that due to the confidential nature of these plans and proprietary sensitive information within, they cannot be fully disclosed to the public. These plans are subject to update and modification and updates will be promptly posted on our website.
RBC CS™ maintains it’s own Business Continuity Plan, and information on RBC CS and their plan is available on RBC CS’s website.
What is RBC CS?
RBC Correspondent Services (RBC CS) is a division of RBC CAPITAL MARKETS LLC (RBC CAPITAL MARKETS LLC). RBC CAPITAL MARKETS LLC is one of the largest securities firms in the nation and is a member of
the NYSE, AMEX, CHX, CBOE and PSE and has execution capabilities on all principal exchanges.RBC CAPITAL MARKETS LLC is owned by Royal Bank of Canada, which trades under the symbol RY on the New York
Stock Exchange.
Our Firm’s Relationship with RBC CS
Our firm has a contractual agreement with RBC Correspondent Services (RBC CS) to serve
as our clearing firm. This fully disclosed agreement states the responsibilities of each party. Prior to the
agreement becoming effective, RBC CS is responsible for making all disclosures to our firm’s
designated examaning authority as required by NYSE Rule 382. Each client of our firm is notified of the
relationship via a disclosure letter. The disclosure letter details the responsibilities that our firm (the
introducing broker-dealer) and RBC CS (the clearing firm) have to the client. Although client assets
are held by RBC CAPITAL MARKETS Corp., neither RBC CAPITAL MARKETS LLC., nor RBC CS has responsibility
for the financial condition or performance of our firm or our Financial Consultants.
SIPC and Additional Coverage for Client Accounts
Our clearing firm, RBC Correspondent Services, is a division of RBC CAPITAL MARKETS LLC RBC CAPITAL MARKETS LLC is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). SIPC is a nonprofit membership corporation funded by its member security broker-dealers. SIPC protects the securities
clients of its members in the event of the failure of a member firm. SIPC reimburses clients the cash
value of their securities up to $500,000 per client. Any cash in a client’s account would be reimbursed by
SIPC up to $100,000 (reducing the $500,000 above).
RBC CAPITAL MARKETS LLC has purchased an additional policy that offers coverage in excess of the protection
provided by SIPC. This coverage covers additional securities and cash protection up to $99.5 million per
client, of which $900,000 may be in cash. A $400 million aggregate limit applies to this additional
coverage.
RBC CAPITAL MARKETS LLC also offers protection if a client’™s securities are missing because of theft by an
outsider, computer fraud or theft by an employee for personal gain. In such cases, the firm’™s CAN$310
million Financial Institution Bond coverage would cover the client’™s losses, subject to that policy’™s terms,
conditions and limits.
Note: Neither SIPC protection, nor protection in excess of that offered by SIPC, covers a decline in the
value of a client’™s assets due to market loss. Additional information is available upon request or at
www.sipc.org.