" Advisers do not need to force every client interaction through one channel."
For an investment client, that might mean valuations, review history, and standing documents. For a mortgage or protection client, it could mean application progress, policy information, and access to records they will need again.
Problems arise when a single document turns into an account-opening exercise. Beyond Encryption ' s 2024 research among 1,000 UK adults found that 72 % had felt frustrated creating an account they would use only once, while just 7 % preferred portals to post or email for receiving documents.
That does not mean portals are unwanted. It means a portal has to earn the work of registration and repeat login by offering continuing value.
Secure email handles the direct exchange
Email has a different strength: it is proactive. A message reaches the inbox the client already checks and supports a direct conversation between the firm and the recipient.
But ordinary email is not suitable for every document. If the message or attachment contains sensitive personal, financial, identity, or health information, the firm may need encryption, a recipient check, a protected reply route, and a record of access.
Secure email is particularly practical when:
• An adviser is sending a suitability report, annual review pack, mortgage offer, or protection correspondence;
• A client needs to return bank statements, payslips, identity documents, bank details, or underwriting information;
• A time-sensitive update or an unusual file cannot follow the normal portal process;
• A provider, solicitor, accountant, authorised representative, or other third party does not share the firm ' s portal; or
• A client cannot use the portal route and the firm needs a controlled alternative.
The protected reply is more important than it seems. If the adviser sends securely but the client has to respond through open email, the sensitive part of the exchange has simply moved to the next message.
Design the handover between channels
Portals and secure email are strongest together when the handover between them is deliberate.
A routine notification can tell a client that a new item is available in the portal without including sensitive detail. A secure email can deliver a specific document when the inbox is the better starting point. It can also guide the client into the portal when the next step belongs there.
Firms need to decide where the definitive record sits, how staff capture the exchange, and what happens when the intended route fails. That keeps the exception from becoming an improvised attachment, a password sent in a second( but unprotected) message, or a conversation slipping into an unapproved channel.
In short, the portal can own the continuing relationship, while secure email can provide the controlled bridge for the immediate exchange.
“ Advisers do not need to force every client interaction through one channel. A portal can support the continuing relationship, while secure email gives the client a protected route for the document or question in front of them.” Carole Howard, Beyond Encryption( Mailock)
Match the control to the message
A meeting invite and a suitability report can leave through the same Outlook window, but they do not carry the same information or consequence. Firms need a simple decision framework that looks at the message itself.
Before sending, ask:
• Does the body or attachment contain sensitive client information?
• What could happen if the wrong person opened it?
• Is a recipient check proportionate to the contents and the client ' s situation?
• Will the client need to return sensitive information in the same exchange?
• Is this a one-off task, or does the client need an ongoing place to return to?
Use the portal where repeated access, structured activity, and ongoing history are central. Use secure email where direct delivery, conversation, or an
September 2026 | 17