The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has developed a model rule outlining policies that investment advisers should have in place to respond to natural disasters or the death or incapacitation of an executive.
The NASAA rule requires every adviser to adopt written procedures for business continuity and succession planning, and shows how firms will protect books and records, establish an alternative means of communicating with clients, relocate the office, reassign key personnel and generally minimize disruption to the business.
The rule allows flexibility in the plans. They can vary based on the adviser’s size, services and locations. The model rule must be adopted by individual states before going into effect.
