APS Investment Services

Business Continuity Plan

APS Financial Corporation (“APSF”) has developed a Business Continuity Plan (“BCP”) to respond to a significant business disruption (“SBD”).  Since the timing and impact of disasters and disruptions is unpredictable, this plan is flexible in responding to actual events as they occur.  In accordance with FINRA Rule 3510, this information about the APSF BCP is provided to you.

Contacting APSF
If you cannot contact APSF by phone at (512) 314-4375 or (800) 248-0620, by email of a specific employee (“first initial last name@aps-financial.com”) or gconwill@aps-financial.com, or by employee Bloomberg messaging during normal business hours and suspect that APSF may be experiencing an SBD, call our alternative numbers: (512) 328-0888, (800) 252-3628, (512) 680-4193 or visit the APSF website: www.aps-financial.com for more information.

If you cannot contact APSF through any of those means, contact our clearing firm, Southwest Securities (“SWST”), which is located at 1201 Elm Street, Suite 3500 Dallas, Texas 75270, at (214) 859-1800 or visit its website (www.swst.com) for instructions on how it may provide access to your funds and securities, enter orders, and process other trade-related, cash, and security transfer transactions for you.  In the event of a statewide or nationwide SBD, SWST will supply additional information at 866-SWS-5BCP (866-797-5227).

Please, never leave instructions for trades on voicemail or send them via email or Bloomberg.

Business Continuity Plan
APSF plans to recover and resume business operations after an SBD as quickly as possible given the scope and severity of the SBD and will respond by safeguarding our employees and property, making a financial and operational assessment, protecting APSF books and records, and allowing APSF customers to transact business.

Our 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 business constituent, bank and counter-party impact; regulatory reporting; and provision of prompt access to customers funds and securities if APSF is unable to continue business.  While every emergency situation poses unique problems based on external factors, such as time of day and the severity of the disruption, SWST has advised us that its objective is to restore its own operations and be able to complete existing transactions and accept new transactions and payments as quickly as possible.  This time varies from fifteen minutes to four hours or longer depending on the scope and severity of the SBD.  Your orders and requests for funds and securities could be delayed during these periods.

SWST’s BCP addresses similar issues regarding its response to an SBD, including information about its off-site data back up and the services it provides to us and our customers.  Its BCP Disclosure can be viewed at SWST BCP Disclosure.

Significant Business Disruptions
SBDs can vary in their scope: affecting only the APSF main office, or a building housing APSF or APSF employees, or the city, state, or region where APSF or APSF employees are located, or the entire country.  Within each of these, the severity of the disruption can vary from minimal to severe.  In the event of an SBD, if necessary, APSF will transfer its operations to an unaffected local site or to SWST and expects to recover and resume business within 1 hour.  If the SBD is so severe that it prevents APSF from remaining in business, customers can access their funds and securities through SWST.

For more information – If you have questions about the APSF BCP, contact us at (512) 314-4375 or (800) 248-0620 or email gconwill@aps-financial.com.