Business Continuity Plan

Business Continuity Plan

Intercoastal Capital Markets, Inc. Business Continuity Plan

Purpose of the Business Continuity Plan

The Business Recovery Plan at Intercoastal Capital Markets, Inc. (Firm) is intended to provide a framework to ensure the Firm’s uninterrupted operations and/or restoration of its business and operations in the most efficient and timely manner in case of an internal or external SBD (Significant Business Disruption). An SBD can be caused by any accidental, natural or man-made malicious event that threatens or does disrupt normal operations or services for a sufficient time to affect significantly, or cause failure to, an organization.

I. Emergency Contact Persons

Our Firm’s three (3) emergency contacts are:

John W. Rogers Jr.
General Principal, President & Chief Compliance Officer
Phone – 716-332-6129
Cell – 561-459-7254
Email: jrogers@intercoastalcm.com

Steven Singer
General Principal, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer/Fin-Op
Phone – 561-939-8282
Cell – 561-784-8922
Email: ssinger@mavenstrategic.com

C. David Bird

General Principal and Chief Executive Officer
Phone – 561-939-8282
Cell – 954-242-1947
Email: db@intercoastalcm.com

These names and information will be updated in the event of a material change, and will be reviewed within 30 business days of the end of each fiscal year.

II. Firm Policy

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 clients to transact business. In the event that we determine that we are unable to continue our business, we will assure clients prompt access to their funds and securities.

Significant Business Disruptions (SBDs)

Our plan anticipates two kinds of SBDs. Internal SBDs are interruptions that deny access to our facilities or resources and only affect our Firm’s ability to communicate and conduct business. External SBDs prevent the operation of the securities markets or a number of firms. With either type of disruption, if our critical Information Technology systems are disrupted, we will have to rely on our key third party processors, vendors, suppliers and financial institutions. Whether the disruption is internal or external, Intercoastal Capital Market’s plan is designed to recover our business functionality and process all outstanding business.

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(e)

Plan Location and Access

We maintain a copy of this BCP at our external backup facility (see VII Data-Backup and Recovery.) Copies of the BCP have been distributed among department heads.

Approval and Execution Authority

John Rogers, registered principal, is responsible for approving the plan for Intercoastal Capital Markets, Inc. and for conducting the required annual review. Mr. Rogers can be reached at 716-332-6129 or jrogers@intercoastalcm.com.

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(d)

III. Business Description

Intercoastal Capital Markets, Inc. is a FINRA registered broker/dealer, servicing both institutional and retail customers with the ability to transact business in Corporate Debt, US Government and its Agencies fixed income securities, Municipal Bonds, Corporate Equity, Mutual Funds, Options, Insurance & Annuities offerings and Private Placements. Our firm is an introducing firm. We do not hold customer funds or securities. Our clearing firms maintain customers’ accounts and transactions and Intercoastal adopts each of our clearing firms’ reports.

Our clearing firms are StoneX Financial Inc. (member NYSE/FINRA/SIPC), Hilltop Securities Inc. (member NYSE/FINRA/SIPC) and Mirae Asset Securities (USA) Inc. (member FINRA/SIPC.) StoneX has multiple locations, and may be contacted as follows:

StoneX Financial Inc. Florida Branch Offices
2600 N Military Trail Ste. 350
Boca Raton, Florida 33431
800-264-4863
www.stonex.com

StoneX Financial Inc. Corporate Headquarters
230 Park Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10169
212-485-3500/800-240-1438
www.stonex.com

Hilltop Securities may be contacted at:

Hilltop Securities Inc.
717 N Harwood St
Ste. 3400
Dallas, TX 75201
214-859-1800/833-444-5586
Operations – 214-859-5275
www.hilltopsecurities.com

Mirae Asset Securities (USA), Inc. may be contacted at:

Mirae Asset Securities (USA), Inc.
810 7th Avenue, 37th Floor
New York, NY 10019
(212) 407-1000
www.miraeassetsecurities.com

IV. Office Location and Contact Information

Intercoastal Capital Markets Inc. has 3 public branch office locations.

Intercoastal’s main OSJ world headquarters are located at:

200 E Palmetto Park Rd. Suite 108, Boca Raton, FL 33432. The main telephone number is (561) 939-8282. The firm does not have fax capability. Our web site address is www.intercoastalcap.com. Our contact email is ops@intercoastalcm.com. The Firm’s office location in Boca Raton is maintained and managed by:

Intercoastal Real Estate LLC
Direct Contact: Management
Tel: (954) 242-1947

Intercoastal’s non-OSJ branch office in New Jersey is located at:

239 Myrtle Ave. Ste A, Boonton, NJ 07005. The main telephone number is (973) 265-4490. The website address is the same at www.intercoastalcap.com. The contact email is the same at ops@intercoastalcm.com. The Firm’s office location in Summit is maintained and managed by:

Vanica LLC
21 Freeman Ave.
Denville, NJ 07834
Lisa Feher Elliott, Manager for Vanica – Feher Home Solutions
(862) 812-3135

Intercoastal’s OSJ branch office in New York is located at:

1207 Delaware Avenue, Ste. 118, Buffalo, NY 14225. The main telephone number is (716) 332-6129. The website address is the same at www.intercoastalcap.com. The contact email is jrogers@intercoastalcm.com. The Firm’s office location in Amherst is maintained and managed by:

Plaza Group Suites
One Towne Center, 501 John James Audubon Parkway, Amherst, NY 14228
Direct Contact: John McDonald
Tel: (716) 874-4880
Email: johnmcdonald@plazagroup.com

V. Alternative Physical Location(s) of Employees

In the event of an SBD, we will continue operations at an alternate working location. Additionally, the Firm has provided some employees with computers preconfigured with access to mission critical applications.

The Firm will first have alternate branch office locations serve as an alternate location for any SBD affected branch.

The Firm also maintains an alternate working location at the following principal’s/persons in charge/registered personnel residences:
David Bird
177 Royal Palm Way
Boca Raton, FL 33432
(954) 242-1947

Staci Paul
3939 NE 5th Ave. Apt F-205
Boca Raton, FL 33431

John Rogers
92 Yeager Drive
Buffalo, NY 14225
(561) 459-7254

Vincent G. McCallion
110 Second Street
Fanwood, NJ 07023-1629

Additionally, if these alternate locations are not available, the Firm will relocate its’ operations and mission critical systems to one of its’ clearing agents – StoneX Financial Inc.’s, Hilltop Securities Inc.’s and Mirae Asset Securities (USA) Inc.’s locations (see III. Business Description) that is accessible and/or operational.

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(c)(6)

VI. Customers’ Access to Funds and Securities

Our Firm does not maintain custody of customers funds or securities. In the event of an internal or external SBD, our registered employees will take customer orders or instructions over any available method and our customers may execute any kind of transaction by contacting the Firm via our main phone number, cell phone numbers under emergency contacts or, if necessary, by calling our clearing firm directly.

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(c)(10)

VII. Data Back-Up and Recovery

The Firm has contracted with independent vendors to host and backup all electronic mail and electronic files off-site to external storage facilities on a daily basis. The firm has also contracted with independent vendors to archive other non-electronic firm documentation (such as employee records, administrative contracts and system generated reports for reconciliation, etc.) off-site to external storage facilities on an as needed and allowed basis. The firm maintains access to those records and files at any given time, so in the event of an internal or external SBD we can always recover the Firms records.

The Firm’s email is hosted and electronically archived with:

Smarsh, Inc.
921 SW Washington Street Suite 540
Portland, OR 97205
Phone: 866-SMARSH-1 (866-762-7741)
Email: support@smarsh.com
Web Site: www.smarsh.com
Direct Contact: Geoff Dilkes, Account Executive; 971-270-1179; gdilkes@smarsh.com

The Firms files are physically stored on site at all three branch locations in secure storage. Account files and some files pertaining to our Clearing Agents are also stored remotely on our Clearing Agent’s servers. Some physical files are also stored offsite in approved secured storage. Offsite storage is located at:

Deerfield Storage
950 S. Powerline Road
Deerfield Beach, FL 33442
(954) 426.3055

Some files are also electronically archived and redundantly backed up locally and remotely. This includes management approved secure local portable drive and access controlled DropBox.

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(c)(1)

VIII. Financial and Operational Assessments

A. Operational Risk
In the event of an SBD, we will immediately identify and use any methods that permit us to communicate with our customers, employees, business, constituents, banks and regulators.

B. Financial and Credit Risk
In the event of an SBD, we will determine the value and liquidity of our investments and other assets to evaluate our ability to continue to fund our operations and remain in capital compliance.

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(c)(3)

IX. Mission Critical Systems

Our Firm’s “mission critical systems” are those that ensure prompt and accurate processing of securities transactions and the maintenance of customer accounts. We have primary responsibility for maintaining our relationships with customers. Our clearing firms, Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc. and Southwest Securities Inc., provide the execution, comparison, allocation, clearance and settlement of securities transactions and the maintenance of customer accounts. Our clearing firms’ contracts require our clearing firms to maintain a business continuity plan and the capacity to execute it. Our clearing firms represent that it backs up all of their pertinent records.

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(c)(2))

X. Communications between the Firm, Customers, Employees, and Regulators

In the event of an SBD, we will use the means comparable in speed and form to the means that we have used in the past to communicate with our customers, employees and regulators. We will always keep all parties informed with status reports on the situation of the business.

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(c)(4)(5)(9)

XI. Critical Business Constituents and Banks

A. Business Constituents

We have contacted our critical business constituents and determined the extent to which we can continue our business relationship with them in the event of an internal or external SBD. We will quickly establish alternative arrangements if a business constituent can no longer provide the needed goods or services.

The Firm is contracted with the following primary critical business constituents:

StoneX Financial Inc. for clearing and operations services (see III. Business Description for contact information.)

Hilltop Securities Inc. for clearing and operations services (see III. Business Description for contact information.)

Mirae Asset Securities (USA), Inc. for clearing and operations services (see III. Business Description for contact information.)

Intercoastal Real Estate LLC for office management/landlord (see IV. Office Location and Contact
Information.)

Vanica LLC for office management/landlord (see IV. Office Location and Contact
Information.)

Plaza Group Suites for office management/landlord (see IV. Office Location and Contact
Information.)
Bloomberg L.P. for market and trading systems. Their contact information is: Bloomberg L.P.
731 Lexington Ave. New York, NY 10022
U.S. East Coast Customer Support Phone: 212-318-2000
Email: via Bloomberg system or form on web site
Web Site: www.bloomberg.com

Fabkom Inc. for market and trading systems. Their contact information is:
Fabkom Inc.
4 Marshalls Road
Frenchtown, NJ 08825
Carl Bloksberg, President
Customer Support Phone: 212-571-6100
Email: via Bloomberg system or form on web site
Web Site: www.fabkom.com

B. Banks

We have contacted our banks and lenders to ensure they maintain their own Business Continuity Plan and have the capacity to deploy it in the event of an internal or external SBD.

The Firm is contracted with the following banks for monetary business transactions: 

Wells Fargo Bank
5355 Town Center Road Suite 101
Boca Raton, FL 33486
Phone: 561-338-6021/561-417-3183
Fax: 561-338-6808
Web Site: www.wellsfargo.com
Email: via a form on Contact Us page on web site

City National Bank of Florida
641 Federal Hwy
Boca Raton, FL 33432
(561) 361-5100
Fax: 786-313-5613
Web Site: www.citynationalcm.com
Email: via a form on the Contact Us page on web site

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(c)(7)

XII. Regulatory Reporting

Our Firm is subject to regulation by the Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC.) In the event of an SBD, we will verify with these authorities the means of filing still available to us.

The Firm is under the jurisdiction of FINRA District 7 in Boca Raton, Florida. FINRA’s contact information for District 7 is:

FINRA District 7 Office
5200 Town Center Circle
Suite 200
Boca Raton, FL 33486
(561) 443-8000
Fax: (561) 443-7995
Web Site: www.finra.org
Yvette Panetta, Deputy District Director
Tom Nelli, Senior Vice President and Regional Director

The Firm is under the jurisdiction of the SEC and the Division of Trading and Markets & Broker Dealers. The

SEC’s contact information is:

SEC Division of Trading and Markets
Washington, D.C.
202-551-5777
Web Site: www.sec.gov
Email: tradingandmarkets@sec.gov

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(c)(8)

XIII. Disclosure of Business Continuity Plan

We include a copy of this summary to customers in the Firm’s account opening documentation package. We also have posted this summary on our website (www.intercoastalcap.com .) The summary is mailed to customers upon request. In the event of a disruption all customers should refer to this Business Continuity Plan document and/or our website for instructions and direction.

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(e)

XIV. Updates and Annual Review

Our Firm will update the Business Continuity Plan whenever there is a material change to our operations, structure, business or location or those of our clearing firm. In addition, our Firm will review this BCP periodically for any changes

Rule: FINRA Rule 4370(b)

XV. SIPC

Should the firm be unable to recover from a disaster, the Firm will follow SIPC liquidation procedures.

For any questions regarding this Business Continuance Plan, please contact the Firm’s compliance department at (561) 939-8282.