Regulatory pressure to undo the traditional way brokers sell research alongside share dealing is alarming traders in Europe, who fear a further drop in business and more cost-cutting in an already tough environment. At stake is the lucrative but opaque system under which fund managers pay brokers an all-in commission on every trade, charged to the fund's clients, which covers not only the execution of the deal but research and other services. Total spending is estimated at 2 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) in the UK and about $10 billion in the United States. The asset managers are already reining in spending in the wake of new UK curbs on charging clients for research sometimes deemed "questionable" and company visits, traders say. A ban proposed by European markets watchdog ESMA on charging clients for research - though not yet final - is also seen eating into brokers' profits, pushing them to merge or cut costs. Advocates of new rules say such changes will lead to a healthier and
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