Securities industry regulations require that brokerage firms provide clients with their plans for contingency in the event of a business disruption due to natural or other forces. Empire Asset Management Company and Empire Financial Management Company ("Empire") maintains an extensive Business Continuity Plan on file which considers several circumstances of varying magnitude. The following sets forth the basic considerations for a few possible situations:

• If our primary physical location and the local network became unavailable, due to any circumstances such as a power outage, internet disruption or lack of physical access to our offices, we would restore our electronic network to operate through the network backup which is stored off-site.
• In the event that our telephone network was unavailable for an extended period of time but we continued to have use of the internet, the firm would post alternate telephone numbers to its website.
• During a significant business disruption, if our clients are unable to reach us either by telephone or internet and require access to their accounts, they are advised to contact our clearing firm RBC Clearing & Custody a division of RBC Capital Markets, LLC, for access to their funds and securities. Clients are advised to refer to their Account Statements for contact information.

Empire regularly assesses and tests its plan to verify that in the unlikely event it experiences a business disruptions, the firm has taken reasonable steps to address risk, service interruption and limited account access.