We are aware that the response to the coronavirus situation is changing by the day and wanted to take this opportunity to reassure that Satis have plans in place to be able to continue to offer the service and support you require.
Office Hours: We expect most staff to move to work from home over the next few days and weeks. Staff will remain contactable during normal office hours on the normal telephone numbers and email addresses to which you are used. We plan to run the London office with a skeleton staff. If a time comes where offices are required to shut for a period of time all of Satis staff are able to work off site with no disruption to the facilities they can access and the services they can provide.
Communication: You will receive more information via electronic means than usual, this could include your quarterly valuations. Where letters have been signed via an electronic signature you can be assured these letters will have been through the same checks as those with original signatures.
Meetings: We will continue to offer meetings and annual reviews as usual, as these are an important part of your financial planning. We would prefer to arrange these remotely if at all possible. We have video and audio conferencing facilities in place that are suitable for mobile telephones, tablets, PCs and good old landlines.
Trading: Satis will continue to meet the terms of our Best Execution policy which can be found on our website, if at any stage this is not possible we will notify you as soon as we are aware of this. If our trading partners become unable to meet their transaction obligations we will also notify you of this situation. We think this is a most unlikely scenario.
Our Partners: We often mention the due diligence we conduct on areas such as the platforms we use and it is very much for these exceptional times that we undertake this due diligence. We have been speaking with our main service providers in regarding their business continuity plans and are currently happy and reassured by the actions they are taking to ensure continuing service at the levels required. This will continue to be a focus of ours as events continue to unfold and should anything change we will be in contact with you as required.
Staff: Our staff are incredibly important to us at Satis with their safety and health being a priority. Therefore if any member of staff shows signs of illness we will ask them to take the required action as per medical guidelines. This may lead to a period where we have a shortage of staff. We train our team to be able to cover all roles, however, there may be a period where our usual turnaround times increase in some non-urgent areas.
FCA: The FCA have issued a statement saying they expect all regulated entities to have contingency plans in place in order to be able to serve and support their customers. Satis believe we have these in place and will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these during the changing times.
Data security: It is likely that the amount of homeworking will increase. Satis have invested in systems that allow secure access to all our systems. Colleagues are able to serve you and each other entirely securely from locations other than our offices.
Our main concern is that all our clients stay healthy and that we all get back to normal as soon as possible. If you have any questions on any of the issues highlighted in this article or anything you feel we have not addressed please contact us and a member of the Satis team will be happy to help.