r2s2

Think of soft dollar brokerage as an agent, insitutional clients do not pay you directly for the reasearch, instead they are charged by agents (implicately by higher trading fees). Simple put, "indirectly through agent".

Whstle blowing solution can be compared to NBA referee officiating the game, whenever the fouls, they blow the whistle. However, if you are a good boy and stick to CFA code of ethics all the time, there are no fous, refs are not needed, right?