Instinet Canada Ltd, today announced the introduction of a commission sharing arrangement (CSA) program, called BrokerShare, that allows clients to “unbundle” their research costs from execution fees.

The program, which is available to Canadian institutional clients immediately, allows clients to accrue trading commission credits in a BrokerShare account by utilizing Instinet’s global trade execution services, and later direct Instinet Canada to pay participating research brokers whose research the institution has consumed. Instinet Canada then handles all payments, administration and record-keeping through an online commission management system.

The firm notes that by using a CSA program, clients can select a broker based on its execution quality performance rather than on research payment commitments.

“With the dramatic increase over the past 18 months in the number alternative trading systems in Canada, it’s understandable that the conversation around ‘best execution’ has focused primarily on a buyside firm’s ability to trade on these new venues. However, as significant as these new ATS platforms have become, the unbundling of research from execution should have as profound, if not more, impact on a fund’s execution cost savings,” says Thomas Young, head of trading at Instinet Canada.