Customer Portal for Financial Services

Your clients want to see their portfolio at 11pm on a Sunday — not wait until your Monday morning call. A client portal gives them 24/7 access and makes your firm look as modern as it should.

Your clients want to check their portfolio at 11pm on a Sunday — not wait for your Monday morning call. And in an industry where everyone offers similar returns, the experience of working with your firm is what sets you apart.

A client portal for financial services gives clients 24/7 access to portfolio performance, documents, and secure communication — while helping your firm meet compliance obligations and scale advisory relationships without sacrificing the personal touch.

Problems a Client Portal Solves

Clients wanting real-time portfolio access

Modern investors, accustomed to real-time data from platforms like Robinhood and Vanguard, expect instant access to their portfolio performance. A portal with live dashboards and reporting meets this expectation.

Compliance documentation requirements

Financial services firms are subject to regulations from the SEC, FINRA, and state regulators that require documented communication, record-keeping, and information security. A portal with audit trails and archiving supports these requirements far better than email.

Sensitive document sharing

Account statements, tax forms (1099s, K-1s), financial plans, and investment recommendations need to be shared securely. Email is not appropriate for this level of sensitivity. A portal with encryption and access controls provides a defensible document exchange channel.

Scaling advisory relationships

As firms grow their client base, the personalized touch that defines financial advising becomes harder to maintain. A portal with dashboards, automated reporting, and self-service capabilities lets advisors serve more clients without sacrificing service quality.

Key Features for Financial Services Portals

  • Portfolio dashboards — Real-time views of asset allocation, performance, and holdings.
  • Document vault — Secure storage and sharing of statements, tax forms, agreements, and financial plans.
  • Reporting — Automated performance reports, tax summaries, and custom analytics.
  • Secure messaging — Compliant communication channel with archiving and audit trails.
  • Meeting scheduling — Clients can book reviews and consultations directly through the portal.
  • Account aggregation — View assets across multiple accounts and institutions in one place.
  • Billing transparency — Clear presentation of fees, AUM charges, and fee schedules.
  • Risk questionnaires — Digital collection of risk tolerance and suitability information.

Compliance Considerations

  • SEC/FINRA recordkeeping — All electronic communications with clients must be retained and reviewable. Portal messaging should integrate with your archiving solution.
  • Regulation S-P — Requires financial institutions to protect the privacy of consumer financial information.
  • SOC 2 compliance — Portal infrastructure should meet SOC 2 standards for security, availability, and confidentiality.
  • Anti-money laundering (AML) — KYC documents collected through the portal must be properly handled.

Financial Services Portal Software

  • Orion — The leading portfolio management platform for independent RIAs (Registered Investment Advisors). Clients get branded portals showing real-time portfolio performance, holdings, and documents. Popular among advisory firms managing $50M-$500M in assets.
  • Addepar — Wealth management platform with client-facing dashboards and reporting. Typically used by larger advisory firms and family offices with sophisticated reporting needs.
  • Black Diamond — Performance reporting and client portal from SS&C. Well-established among mid-size wealth management firms.
  • RightCapital — Financial planning software where clients can interact with their financial plan, adjust retirement assumptions, and see how different scenarios affect their projections. Especially popular among fee-only financial planners.
  • eMoney Advisor — Financial planning and client portal platform. A comprehensive option for advisors who want planning and portal in one system.
  • Assembly — General-purpose client portal used by smaller advisory firms for documents, messaging, and billing. A lighter-weight option for advisors who don’t need full portfolio reporting integration.

What a Financial Services Portal Looks Like in Practice

Here is what the client experience actually looks like when a financial advisory firm gets their portal right — and why it matters more than most advisors think.

A small business owner who works with an independent financial advisor logs into their portal on a Sunday evening. They check their portfolio allocation (60% equities, 30% bonds, 10% alternatives), download their quarterly performance report, read their advisor’s latest market commentary about interest rate expectations, and schedule a review meeting for next week. All of this happens without waiting for business hours, without sending an email that sits until Monday, and without that nagging feeling of “I should really check on my investments but I don’t want to bother my advisor.” The portal transforms the advisory relationship from one that only exists during scheduled meetings to one that’s always accessible.

Orion is the platform that makes this experience possible for most independent RIAs. The client sees a branded portal — not Orion’s brand, but their advisor’s — showing real-time portfolio performance, individual account holdings, asset allocation breakdowns, and a document vault with tax forms, quarterly statements, and financial planning documents. The advisor’s firm might manage a few hundred million in assets across several hundred client households, and every one of those clients gets the same polished, self-service experience. Before Orion, delivering that level of transparency meant manually preparing reports and emailing PDFs.

For advisors who focus on financial planning (not just investment management), RightCapital adds another dimension. The client doesn’t just view static reports — they interact with their financial plan. They can adjust their planned retirement age and watch the projections update in real time. They can model “what if I buy a vacation home?” or “what if I increase my 401k contribution?” and see the impact on their long-term plan. This kind of interactive access turns the financial plan from a document that collects dust between annual reviews into a living tool the client actually uses.

It’s worth noting that not every advisory firm starts with a full wealth management platform. Smaller advisors — especially those just getting started or managing a handful of clients — often begin with simpler solutions like Assembly for secure document sharing and client communication, or even Citrix ShareFile for encrypted document exchange. These tools don’t offer portfolio dashboards or planning integration, but they solve the immediate problem of sharing sensitive tax documents and account statements securely. As the practice grows and the client base demands more, that’s usually the trigger to invest in a purpose-built platform like Orion or RightCapital.

The financial services industry has a unique dynamic: clients are trusting you with their life savings, yet for most of the year, the relationship is invisible. A portal makes the relationship tangible. It gives clients confidence that their money is being managed, that their advisor is paying attention, and that they can check in anytime they want. That confidence is what keeps clients from wondering whether the grass is greener at the robo-advisor offering a flashy app.