Brokerage houses historically have provided research and related services together with order execution without separate fees. This practice of research bundling through so-called soft commissions has triggered an intense and ongoing debate considering that research bundling leads to nontransparent pricing and, therefore, can induce agency conflicts. A new European regulation has banned the use of soft commissions by requiring fee separation for execution and research services. Against this backdrop, we provide a systematic review of the literature on soft commissions to build a profound basis for further regulatory discussions and to uncover future research opportunities.

经纪公司历来提供研究和相关服务以及订单执行，无需单独收费。考虑到研究捆绑会导致定价不透明，因此会引发代理冲突，这种通过所谓的软佣金进行研究捆绑的做法引发了激烈而持续的辩论。一项新的欧洲法规通过要求执行和研究服务的费用分离来禁止使用软佣金。在此背景下，我们对软佣金的文献进行了系统回顾，为进一步的监管讨论奠定了深刻的基础，并发现了未来的研究机会。