California’s DBO – On The Cutting Edge of Communication

On November 22, 2013, the Commissioner of Business Oversight (“Commissioner”) and the California Department of Business Oversight (“DBO”) issued an order affecting all broker dealers and investment advisers (and any other businesses engaged in financial transactions) which are licensed to do business in the State of California.  The order requires licensees to establish within their electronic mail system, a dedicated generic email address to receive electronic mail communications from the Commissioner and the DBO.  The purpose of this order is to ensure that all licensees can be reached during an emergency and at other times.  The Commissioner seeks to take advantage of “modern electronic communication methods” to deliver the same message simultaneously to all or to a select group of licensees of the DBO.  The Commissioner and DBO want to be able to depend upon licensees to receive and respond to communications from the Commissioner in a dependable and timely manner.  Below are some tips on creating your firm’s designated email address.

• The address of the mailbox shall be a designed business e-mail (example: [email protected] ).  Do not use a person’s name or personal email address.  Create a generic email box dedicated to this purpose;
• Ensure that the mailbox be monitored daily by members of the licensee’s firm;
• Ensure the mailbox has the proper capacity to receive attachments that may accompany communications from the Commissioner or the DBO.

The Commissioner ordered that the deadline for licensees to establish and register such email address with the Commissioner and the DBO is on or before January 4, 2014.  To login and verify and or update your firm’s email contact information, you can access the DBO Designated Email Registration Portal here.For further information on this topic contact us at [email protected] or (619) 298-2880.