In response to continued developments regarding the Coronavirus outbreak, we would like to share important information on our staff policy and provide insight into the approach we are taking at Vela to prepare and reduce the potential issues and risks this presents. The specific steps outlined below are based on a response framework which is detailed in our pandemic planning policy.
In the interest of protecting all Vela employees and ensuring the continued orderly functioning of our business, we have implemented the following precautionary steps:
We have advised all employees to work from home unless it is business critical that they must go to the office.
We have mandated that all staff in our Manila office to work remotely beginning 16 March until further notice, due to the travel restrictions in place for Metro Manila.
We have provided all employees with advice on how they can help prevent the spread of infection to help protect themselves and others with hand washing and hygiene advice and have increased provisions such as hand sanitizers and tissues in all Vela offices.
We have introduced a ban on all non-essential business travel until further notice.
We have implemented a no hand shaking practice for both within the office and for any client interaction offsite and are keeping visitors to our offices to an absolute minimum and only when absolutely required.
We have completed a full infrastructure review and have conducted a Business Continuity Planning (BCP)/Work From Home test across all Vela offices in New York, Chicago, London, Belfast and Manila.
As a business that supports the capital markets community, we are fully enabled for remote working, something which has been offered to employees for many years and regularly tested at scale. However, we are taking all possible steps to ensure that all employees regardless of office location or team are able to perform their day to day role from home for an extended period.
It should be noted that the precautionary steps being taken by Vela exceed those of the local authorities in US, UK and Philippines. We have taken the decision to do so in order to protect the health and safety of our employees while also ensuring through our BCP testing that we can continue to operate our business as normal.
We would also like to assure all clients that given the increased market volatility observed in the markets over recent days and weeks, our teams are working tirelessly to ensure that Vela software, products and services are operating at optimum levels. We are constantly reviewing data rates and capacity across our Infrastructure and environments to ensure their continued ability to handle the unprecedented increase in market data rates driven by volatility within the markets. While markets remain volatile Vela has introduced an enhanced change control policy, which requires additional levels of approval and heightened awareness for any production change to limit the number of in-flight, non-critical changes.
Vela’s Executive Team is constantly monitoring the situation and adapting our response as necessary and we will provide further updates as required. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your Account Manager.
Related news:
View update as of March 9, 2020
View statement issued March 6, 2020