The scope of VALIC Financial Advisors, Inc. (VFA) business continuity planning entails certain key business operations and data center locations. Business continuity planning is the process which defines the procedures employed to ensure the timely and orderly resumption of a company’s business, through its ability to execute plans with minimal interruption to time-sensitive business operations.
How well VFA is prepared to survive a business disruption with minimal interruption to its daily routine will depend on the elements identified and the provisions made for review, maintenance, quality assurance and accuracy of its business continuity plans. Specific plans have been developed and teams have been identified for each time-sensitive business operation. Each plan prioritizes the critical business functions and states a strategy for recovery within a specified timeframe.
The Business Continuity Planning department is responsible for the guidelines, methodologies, and framework to support the strategies for recovery. The Business Continuity Planning infrastructure is responsible for developing and maintaining the plans.
The objectives of the VFA Business Recovery Continuity Plan are to:
The VFA Business Continuity Plans were developed in accordance with the AIG Corporate Business Continuity Management Business Policy. The key elements of the policy include, Risk Assessment, Business Impact Analysis, Business Continuity Plan, and Plan Testing. These key elements are discussed below:
Threats that materialize can cause varying degrees of outages that can be classified as short-term, intermediate-term, or long-term. Day-to-day emergencies are addressed through emergency response/escalation procedures that are used when needed. Each VFA Business Unit has developed PRIMARY and ALTERNATE strategies to address the follows:
Critical applications run in 2 different data centers (Texas and New Jersey). Critical data is replicated between the two data centers on a daily basis. In the event of a disaster technical recovery teams restore databases and or applications to the most current recovery point as dictated by business requirements.
In the event the home offices are unusable. Business users will work remote or be relocated to an alternate workgroup recovery site or appropriate location.
In the event VFA ceases operations, customers who have retail accounts with National Financial Services (NFS) may call the customer service line at 866-544-4968. Customers who have accounts held directly with third party mutual fund or annuity companies should call those companies directly if they need to place a trade, request a distribution, or have questions about their account. Clients who have annuity accounts with The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company (VALIC) should contact the Client Care line at 800-448-2542.
VALIC Financial Advisors, Inc., member of FINRA, SIPC and an SEC-registered investment advisor.