Hurricane. Schmurricane. Mutual fund firms with operations in the Northeast did all they could to ensure that Hurricane Sandy didn’t halt business for their portfolio managers or their clients.

For example, Fidelity Investments [profile] kept its offices open today. Spokesperson Vincent Loporchio had this to say:

Our headquarters and Boston offices are open for business today; they were open yesterday as well. We have business contingency plans in place that enable us to continue to service our clients and customers regardless of weather conditions. We are a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week company, with locations in several areas of the country; this allows us to continue to serve our 20 million customers when weather conditions affect one region of the United States. Many employees were working remotely yesterday, and fewer employees are working remotely today (however, many are still dealing with the aftermath of the storm.)

BlackRock [profile] said that “most East Coast employees are working remotely. BlackRock's East Coast locations are operating with essential employees to perform critical business functions, such as portfolio management,” according to spokesperson Christine Hudacko.

“BlackRock has robust contingency plans to ensure we can manage our business and serve our clients without disruption,” she told MFWire.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan Asset Management [profile] had this to say via this statement.

Our business remains open and ready to serve clients. Where the storm is impacting safety and commuting and childcare issues, affected employees have been encouraged to remain safe and work from home. Our headquarters building in NYC remains open and we are maintaining the staff levels necessary to conduct critical operations. Our business resiliency teams are constantly monitoring staffing issues and communicating updates through the Hurricane Command Center. Offices in other states and countries are also prepared to pick up work flow. The safety of our employees in affected areas is our first priority and we are confident in our ability to operate fully for our clients.

Other asset management firms were lucky. For example, asset management platform Covestor was in the “midst of a move from New York City to Boston, the epicenter of the mutual fund world,” according to spokesperson Kalen Holliday.

She had this to say of their situation when Sandy struck:

As we were moving, we already had contingency plans in place for staff to work remotely. Also, our back office, tech and operations are all in London, so they were not at any risk. We posted notices on our website that the US markets would be shut early Monday morning. We have been serving customers without interruption throughout the week.

MFWire will run more updates from asset managers regarding Sandy throughout the next few days.  

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