Hamersley Partners, LLC
Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
March 1, 2018
I.Emergency Contact Persons
Our firm’s emergency contact person is:
Primary:
Peter Pavlina
ManagingPrincipal
Hamersley Partners
85 Dartmouth Street, Boston MA 02116
(P) 781-235-3235
Email:
Alternative contact: Michael Wren –
tel: 978-808-3916. email –
The names herein will be updated in the event of a material change, and our Executive Representative will review them within 17 business days of the end of each quarter.
Rule: NASD Rule 3520.
II.Firm Policy
The following addresses the communications and/or operational systems Hamersley Partners, LLC employs to conduct business with customers or other FINRA member firms and the plans and procedures in place to ensure business continuity in case of services disruption of any sort (from minor power outages to major disasters). Our firm’s policy is to respond to a Significant Business Disruption (SBD) by safeguarding employees’ lives and firm property, making a financial and operational assessment, quickly recovering and resuming operations, protecting all of the firm’s books and records, and allowing our customers to transact business.
A.Significant Business Disruptions (SBDs)
Our plan anticipates two kinds of SBDs, internal and external. Internal SBDs affect only our firm’s ability to communicate and do business, such as a fire in our building. External SBDs prevent the operation of the securities markets or a number of firms, such as a terrorist attack, a city flood, or a wide-scale, regional disruption. Our response to an external SBD relies more heavily on other organizations and systems.
B.Approval and Execution Authority
Peter Pavlina, a registered principal, is responsible for approving the plan and for conducting the required annual review. Peter Pavlinahas the authority to execute this BCP.
C.Plan Location and Access
Our firm will maintain copies of its BCP plan and the annual reviews, and the changes that have been made to it for inspection. An electronic copy of our plan is located on our website at A back up is also saved locally at our headquarters.
III.Business Description
Hamersley Partners, LLC is engaged as a very limited broker/dealer, acting solely as a marketing and solicitation agent for investment managers and investment advisors and serving as a sales, marketing, or placement agent for one of more hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, commodity pools, or other investment vehicles. As a placement agent for private placements, a number of the requirements under NASD rule 3510 and 3520 are not applicable.This Business Continuity Plan deals with those areas which are necessary for us to continue doing business in an uninterrupted fashion, and to comply with reporting with disclosure rules under 3510 and 3520.
IV.Office Locations
Our office is located at 85 Dartmouth Street, Boston MA 02116. Its main telephone number is 781-235-3235. Our employees may travel to that office by means of foot, car, or train. Due to the fact that we have no clearing firm, do not maintain customer funds or securities, and that our customers (investors in private placements) do not need to have immediate access to a trading desk or have a need to obtain a certain day’s “price,” we deem our mission critical systems to be (a) the phones, (b) our e-mail system, and (c) UPS, FedEx and the US Postal Service.
V.Alternative Physical Location(s) of Employees
If our office was made inaccessible for any reason, employees would be contacted and requested to remain at home and to work from their residence, or would be directed to another location where we had procured sufficient space until such time as our regular office was once again accessible.
In the event of an outage affecting our internet services, employees of Hamersley Partners, LLC., will work from home utilizing their home computer’s internet access and the firm’s web-based email and CRM systems to communicate with each other and with clients.
Given Hamersley Partners LLC’s current small size and relatively few critical system applications currently utilized, these simple contingency measures are deemed sufficient and appropriate. At which time Hamersley Partners, LLC, grows in number of employees and complexity of systems, contingency plans will be modified accordingly.
VI. Customers’ Access to Funds and Securities
Hamersley Partners, LLC will never have access to customer funds or securities. All investor checks for a private placement offering go directly from the investor to the issuer. They do not come to Hamersley Partners, LLC for transmittal to the issuer.
All investors receive materials and information (offering memorandum, etc.) directly from the issuer, and should Hamersley Partners, LLC for some reason be unable to continue in business, the investor could go directly to the issuer.
VII.Data Back-Up and Recovery (Hard Copy and Electronic)
Our firm maintains its primary hard copy books and records and its electronic records at 85 Dartmouth Street, Boston MA 02116. Peter Pavlina, CEO, 781-235-3235 is responsible for the maintenance of these books and records.
Alternative business continuity contact is Mr. Michael Wren, tel: 978-808-3916. email –
A back up is also saved automatically using Google Drive. Further information on this service is available here:
Rule: NASD Rule 3510(c)(1).
VIII.Financial and Operational Assessments
A.Operational Risk
In the event of an SBD, we will immediately identify what means will permit us to communicate with our customers, employees, critical business constituents, critical banks, critical counter-parties, and regulators. Although the effects of an SBD will determine the means of alternative communication, the communications options we will employ will include our Web site, telephone voice mail, secure e-mail. In addition, we will retrieve our key activity records as described in the section above, Data Back-Up and Recovery (Hard Copy and Electronic). Operationally we are well positioned to be able to maintain communications with customers and to retrieve key activity records through our redundant systems and off-site books and records.
Rules: NASD Rules 3510(c)(3) & (f)(2).
B.Financial and Credit Risk
In terms of financial risk, while it does not appear likely, given our specific business, our shareholders have indicated that they stand ready to infuse sufficient capital funds at any time it is deemed necessary to keep us (a) in net capital compliance and (b) financially sound. The owners of the firm would, in addition, take whatever necessary further steps to retain or obtain adequate financing and sufficient equity.
IX.Mission Critical Systems
Due to the fact that we have no clearing firm, do not maintain customer funds or securities, compounded with the fact that our customers (investors in private placements) do not need to have immediate access to a trading desk or have a need to obtain a certain day’s “price,” we deem our mission critical systems to be (a) the phones, (b) our e-mail system, and (c) UPS, FedEx and the US Postal Service.All employees have cell phones, as well as home telephones, which could serve as back up telephone systems from maintaining contact with our customers. Even if the website went down, it is not a mission critical system, and all other internet services (i.e. e-mail) can be accessed by our employees at their homes.
If our office was made inaccessible for any reason, employees would be contacted and requested to remain at home and to work from their residence. In the event that such a step was necessary, the firm maintains both physical offsite backups of the server, as well as an online backup service, either or both of which could be used to rebuild the firm’s server infrastructure in the event of a prolonged inaccessibility. This is considered to be sufficient as Hamersley Partners current size is relatively small and clients will not be directly utilizing our systems. As the company grows, our plan will be reviewed and modified.
X.Alternate Communications Between the Firm and Customers, Employees, and Regulators
A. Customers
We now communicate with our customers using the telephone, e-mail, our website, U.S. mail, and in person visits at our firm. In the event of an SBD, we will assess which means of communication are still available to us, and use the means closest in speed and form (written or oral) to the means that we have used in the past to communicate with the other party. For example, if we have communicated with a party by e-mail but the Internet is unavailable, we will call them on the telephone and follow up where a record is needed with paper copy in the U.S. mail.
Rule: NASD Rule 3510(c)(4).
B. Employees
We now communicate with our employees using the telephone, e-mail, and in person. In the event of an SBD, we will assess which means of communication are still available to us, and use the means closest in speed and form (written or oral) to the means that we have used in the past to communicate with the other party. A list of all employee home telephone numbers and cell phone numbers is maintained by senior management. At any time when we are unable to contact our employees on their office phone, their home phone number will be utilized. If their home phone is not accessible, their cell phone number will be utilized.
C. Regulators
We are currently members of FINRABoston, District 11 Office. We communicate with our regulators using the telephone, e-mail, U.S. mail, and in person. In the event of an SBD, we will assess which means of communication are still available to us, and use the means closest in speed and form (written or oral) to the means that we have used in the past to communicate with the other party.
Rule: NASD Rule 3510(c)(9).
XI.Critical Business Constituents, Banks, and Counter-Parties
A.Business constituents
The only “counter-party impact that we can envision at this time is a sudden inability to communicate for some reason with the issuer of an offering in which our customers are investing, or have indicated a desire to invest in. In the event of an inability to communicate with an issuer using primary sources of communications (phones or computer) employees of Hamersley Partners, LLC will utilize issuer’s home phones or cell phones.
XII.Regulatory Reporting
Our firm is subject to regulation bythe SEC and FINRA. We now file reports with our regulators using paper copies in the U.S. mail, and electronically using e-mail, and the Internet. In the event of an SBD, we will check with the SEC, FINRA, and other regulators to determine which means of filing are still available to us, and use the means closest in speed and form (written or oral) to our previous filing method. In the event that we cannot contact our regulators, we will continue to file required reports using the communication means available to us.
Rule: NASD Rule 3510(c)(8).
XIII.Disclosure of Business Continuity Plan
Our CCO will ensure that with every “Investor Questionnaire” (required to be completed by or on behalf of a potential investor, a copy of which is then given to the investor) an appropriate disclosure is made. See Attachment 1 hereto. In addition, this disclosure will be posted on our web site, and will be mailed to customers upon request.
XIV.Updates and Annual Review
Our firm will update this plan whenever we have a material change to our operations, structure, business or location. In addition, our firm will review this BCP annuallyin January of each year, to modify it for any changes in our operations, structure, business, or location.
Rule: NASD Rule 3510(b).
XV.Senior Manager Approval
I have approved this Business Continuity Plan as reasonably designed to enable our firm to meet its obligations to customers in the event of an SBD.
Rule: NASD Rule 3510(d).
Signed:
Title:Chief Compliance Officer
Date: March 1, 2018
Attachment 1 – Disclosure
Hamersley Partners hereby notifies all clients and investors that it has in place a Business Continuity Plan. Such plan is available upon request.
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