The verdict in three sentences
A wealth advisory firm with 1,200 clients that still emails statements wastes time and carries a compliance risk. A custom client portal at 35,000 to 80,000 EUR excl. VAT (about 30,000 to 69,000 GBP), delivered in 4 months, with account aggregation via API (2 to 5 EUR per client per month) and a secure document vault, pays for itself in 18 to 30 months. The choice between custom build and platform-provided extranets mostly depends on how many providers you need to aggregate.
What a wealth adviser portal must include in 2026
In London as elsewhere, wealth clients now expect the same experience as their online bank: a consolidated view of their assets, their signed regulatory documents, and a secure channel to talk to their adviser. On the firm's side, conduct rules (MiFID II suitability, FCA Consumer Duty in the UK, IDD for insurance products) require tracking suitability, retaining reports and delivering pre-contract documents on a durable medium. A well-designed portal covers both.
| Module | Function | Build cost (excl. VAT) | Recurring cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authenticated core | Strong login (2FA), household profiles, adviser roles | 8,000 to 14,000 EUR | included in hosting |
| Account aggregation | Bank accounts, pensions, ISAs, life policies via API (open banking providers) | 7,000 to 15,000 EUR | 2 to 5 EUR per client per month |
| Secure document vault | Suitability reports, client agreements, timestamping | 5,000 to 10,000 EUR | 0.3 to 1 EUR per client per month |
| E-signature | Yousign or Docusign built into the flow | 2,500 to 5,000 EUR | 1 to 2 EUR per signature |
| Secure messaging and booking | Retained history, reminders | 4,000 to 9,000 EUR | low |
| Wealth reporting | Allocation, performance, PDF exports | 8,000 to 20,000 EUR | low |
| Compliant hosting, backups | Sensitive data hosted in-region | included | 300 to 900 EUR per month |
The low end (35,000 EUR) covers the core, aggregation and the vault. The high end (80,000 EUR) adds advanced wealth reporting and connectors to your back-office software.
Custom build or platform extranets
Many firms already rely on their partners' extranets (investment platforms, insurers, fund managers). The problem: the client juggles 3 to 6 different logins and the firm disappears behind the providers' brands.
| Criterion | Custom portal | Platform and insurer extranets |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | 35,000 to 80,000 EUR excl. VAT | 0 EUR |
| Annual cost for 1,200 clients | 35,000 to 85,000 EUR (aggregation, hosting, maintenance) | 0 to 6,000 EUR |
| Consolidated view across providers | Yes | No, one login per provider |
| Firm branding | Full | Provider's brand |
| Centralised suitability compliance | Yes, single audit trail | Partial, fragmented |
| Reusable data (prospecting, annual review) | Yes | Very limited |
| Time to launch | 4 months | immediate |
For a firm with fewer than 300 clients, extranets are often enough. Beyond 800 clients and 3 providers, a custom portal becomes a retention and productivity tool that justifies the spend.
Compliance: what to lock down in the specification
The portal handles financial and sometimes tax data: in-region hosting, encryption at rest, access logging, a GDPR record of processing and a data protection impact assessment are expected. On the financial regulation side, plan to archive suitability reports for at least 5 years, timestamp document delivery and record the exchanges that lead to advice. Also require reversibility: a full export of documents and data if you change supplier, with no hidden fees.
Mini case study
Antoine, managing partner of a wealth advisory firm in London, serves 1,200 clients with 4 advisers and 2 assistants. The assistants spend about 25 hours a week preparing and sending statements, reports and documents to sign. He invests 58,000 EUR in a portal, plus 3.5 EUR per client per month for aggregation (50,400 EUR a year) and 6,000 EUR of annual maintenance.
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The portal frees 15 hours of assistant time a week, about 690 hours a year, valued at 35 EUR fully loaded: 24,150 EUR. More importantly, the automatically prepared annual review lets each adviser handle 15 % more meetings. If that brings 1.2 M EUR of new assets at 1 % recurring fees, the firm earns 12,000 EUR a year, compounding. Add a 1-point drop in attrition (12 clients at 2,500 EUR of annual revenue, 30,000 EUR) and the portal breaks even at around 24 months.
FAQ
How much does a client portal for a wealth management firm cost?
Allow 35,000 to 80,000 EUR excl. VAT for a custom portal with aggregation and a document vault. Recurring costs run at around 30 to 70 EUR per client per year depending on the aggregation provider.
How long does it take to go live?
About 4 months: 3 to 4 weeks of scoping and compliance, 10 weeks of development, then 3 weeks of acceptance testing with a pilot group of 30 to 50 clients.
Is account aggregation reliable?
Open banking APIs cover more than 95 % of current accounts, while pensions and insurance policies are less uniform. Plan a manual fallback for 5 to 10 % of holdings.
Can the portal connect to our back-office software?
Yes, most adviser back-office systems offer exports or APIs. A connector usually costs 4,000 to 12,000 EUR excl. VAT depending on the quality of the available API.
Do older clients really use a portal?
At wealth firms, 55 to 70 % of active clients log in at least once a quarter after 12 months. A simple journey and an email notification are enough to drive adoption.
Let's scope your project. Client portal with aggregation, document vault and MiFID II compliance, indicative budget of 35,000 to 80,000 EUR excl. VAT, live in 4 months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
