Client Secure Portal

Why do you need a client portal?

Like us, I would expect you are used to hearing the phrase ‘your call will be recorded for training and monitoring purposes’ each time you ring your bank, doctor or just about any organisation you contact.

It’s easy to see why they think it is a clever idea to record calls. It provides them with evidence confirming who spoke and what was agreed. That’s useful not just for saving money on paper and postage but also in dealing with disputes. And yes, it also helps in assessing the performance and training needs of staff.

However, it can be worrying to be told that your call is going to be recorded and held in evidence against you when you don’t have access to that recording, and any other benefits of recording the conversation seem entirely one sided.

As a result of covid and lockdown restrictions, our advisers now predominantly carry out their meetings on video calls rather than in person. However, unlike phone calls to banks, doctors etc., our video meetings are longer, more complex, and often involve the presentation of reports or collection of instructions. It’s therefore a significant benefit to us to record these meetings simply to remove the need to write up copious notes or confirm instructions given and received in writing. Yes, it also allows us to assess the practice of advisers, something we are required to do under Financial Conduct Authority regulations. But what of the poor client?

What Leabold have come up with is rather novel and unusual. We’ve established a secure online portal in which we propose to hold copies of recordings and allow private access to each client. This way, you are not forced to take long copious notes and can review a conversation at your leisure and, if there’s a dispute over what was said and agreed during a meeting, you will have equal access – as you should.

In fact, the portal does a lot more than this. Aside from recordings of meetings, it can hold documents. The advantage to our clients is that a record of critical communications is held electronically in one place that can be accessed securely from anywhere using either a PC or mobile phone. Not everyone hates paper but many wonder about where they’re going to store it all after they’ve received a few of our 50+ pages reports. As such, the portal provides clients with the security of an electronic copy.

The portal doesn’t mean clients need to communicate with us electronically, or even have the equipment to do so. The record is still there for them should they ever feel the need to access it. However, for those that prefer electronic to paper, the portal provides further advantages that could become critical if we enter another lockdown. Not only can we send documents to clients, but the portal also allows you to electronically sign things and send them back to us.

We hope this portal makes your life easier whilst receiving advice from Leabold Financial Management and that at the very least, it provides an extra layer of transparency and trust.