The New York Times reports on MFS Investment Management's decision to provide "execution only" pricing from investment banks and brokers who typically justify their premium commission fees for institutional trading based in part on the value of the research reports that are provided to them. Robert C. Pozen, the current nonexecutive chairman of MFS, was quoted by the Times as saying "We are valuing their research at zero.'' Mutual funds houses find themselves struggling with repercussions from accountability scandals which place pressure on their bottom lines, even as U.S.-based investment banks and brokers adjust to higher accountability and segregation for developing their research products in the wake of their own deceptions, so both sides are stuggling to come up with new execution models. The bloom has been off the rose for broker research for quite some time and investment banks will be hard pressed to stop this trend once it starts. As surely as the brass bull stands on Broadway, the herd mentality will push this trend along very rapidly. What options for broker research? This certainly doesn't bode well for outlets like TheMarkets.com, a portal supported by numerous investment banks to provide common access to broker research and encourage trades with participants. With broker research and analytics freely available from numerous vendor sources and electronic crossing networks driving margins on institutional trades ever lower, it will take a far more sophisticated approach to packaging content as a valuable part of a transaction to reverse this trend. U.S. Fair Disclosure rules make this ever harder to accomplish, but the future of premium financial content for securities clearly lies in defining its specific and contextual value at the time of execution. This push from mutual funds may be just the pressure required to send both investment banks and financial content vendors back to the drawing boards.