Orion to charge vendors a Connected Ecosystem Support Fee for platform data

Orion will charge technology providers that connect to its platform a new Connected Ecosystem Support Fee, according to WealthTech Today's Oct. 7 report. The fee is levied on vendors that access data through Orion's platform.

Orion says the program will fund stronger infrastructure, governance, support and new connectivity. More than 500 integration providers connect to advisory firms through the platform, the company says.

Several vendors who spoke with WealthTech Today privately said the fees quoted to them reach as high as $20,000 per month, or roughly $240,000 a year per vendor. The vendors are not named in the report.

The report does not say whether vendors will pass the cost to advisory firms. For an advisory practice, the charge lands on the vendor side of the stack; a recurring data-access fee could lead each vendor to absorb it, fold it into subscription pricing, or connect less.

Ezra Group, the consulting firm that wrote the piece, argues the fee is not simply a vendor-pricing dispute. Given Orion's market share, it could substantially change the economics of vendor integrations and the overall wealth management tech stack, the report says.

This publication has traced that question in platform renewals: what a practice can move when a platform changes terms. Orion's integration buildout has been visible in its hiring, which this publication noted in August.