For RIAs, advisers & broker-dealers
If your firm is a FINRA member, a written business continuity plan isn't optional — it has to be maintained, reviewed every year, and ready to defend. We build yours: tailored to your firm, mapped to every required element, and clear enough that your team can actually follow it.
Whether you're a broker-dealer, a hybrid, or a registered investment adviser, continuity planning is an expectation you're already accountable for — not a nice-to-have.
Every FINRA member firm must create and maintain a written business continuity plan, tailored to its size and needs. A registered principal must approve it, and it must be reviewed at least annually and updated whenever your business materially changes. The rule names ten specific elements your plan has to address.
Advisers aren't under FINRA, but the SEC has made clear through guidance and examinations that it expects firms to maintain business continuity and transition plans — and the NASAA Model Rule calls for written continuity and succession planning for many state-registered advisers. Examiners ask. We make sure you have a real answer.
Rule 4370 spells out exactly what a compliant plan must cover. We build each one around how your firm actually operates — not a generic template.
Hard-copy and electronic records, where they live, and how you restore them.
The systems that keep accounts and transactions running, and their recovery.
How you'll judge what's working and whether you can keep operating.
How clients reach you — and you reach them — when normal channels fail.
Call trees and backup channels so your team can regroup fast.
Where your people work when the primary office is unavailable.
Your custodian, clearing firm, banks, and key vendors — and the fallback if one goes down.
Keeping your filing obligations met through a disruption.
Staying in contact with FINRA and others, with current emergency contacts.
How clients reach their assets if you can't continue — the element examiners care most about.
Fixed fee, delivered in weeks. Two of our packages are built for regulated firms; we'll confirm the right fit on the first call.
A written plan tailored to your firm and mapped to all ten Rule 4370 elements, with a principal-approval and annual-review log built in.
Your critical functions, recovery-time objectives, and the dependencies that matter — the backbone regulators expect to see.
We pressure-test the plan with your team so it's understood and usable, not just filed.
Our retainer keeps the plan current and satisfies your annual-review obligation — so it never lapses between exams.
Comprehensive includes full 4370 compliance mapping and a live tabletop exercise. Already have a plan? A Plan Review & Gap Assessment starts at $1,500 (credited toward a full plan). Annual Resilience Retainer from $1,500/yr.
"The same continuity rigor I built for global insurers, brought down to the size — and the budget — of your firm."
Yes. FINRA Rule 4370 applies to member firms regardless of size — the plan is scaled to your firm, not exempted because you're small. A two-person shop still has to have one, reviewed annually and approved by a principal. The good news is that a small firm's plan is straightforward to build well, which is exactly what we do at a fixed fee.
At least once a year, and any time your business, operations, structure, or location changes materially. A registered principal has to review and approve it. Our annual retainer handles this for you so the plan never goes stale between examinations.
You're not under FINRA Rule 4370, but you're not off the hook. The SEC expects registered advisers to maintain business continuity and transition plans, and the NASAA Model Rule calls for written continuity and succession planning for many state-registered advisers. We build the adviser version of the plan, framed to those expectations.
Weeks, not months. After a short discovery call we deliver a one-page snapshot within 48 hours, then build the full plan and run a walkthrough with your team. Because the work is productized, you're not paying for us to reinvent the wheel.
No one honestly can — examination outcomes depend on your firm and your examiner. What we guarantee is a plan that is tailored to your operations, addresses every element the rule requires, and is documented and reviewable. That's what holds up under scrutiny.
A 15-minute call and you'll know exactly where your current plan falls short of the rule — whether or not you ever work with us.