There's a good reason why small agency brokers think they can win with corporate access soft-dollar offerings: the bulge-braket (bulge bracket news) sell-side operations still focus mainly on large caps stocks. So with the extent that money managers remain hungry for great ideas that deal with small- and medium-sized stocks, there's a big window of opportunity.

It should be no surprise that more agency brokers are embracing corporate access services. Traders notes that three firms at least--Liquidnet, Jones Trading and Instinet--have rolled out initiatives of this sort. This concept in general seems to be a winner, as more brokers aim to differentiate themselves. "This niche has been open to newcomers with an innovative approach, strong relationships on the buy-side and good knowledge of where stocks--particularly of the small- and mid-cap varieties--trade."

But some wonder if the bulge-bracket firms are poised to re-dominate the market. One traditional road shows as bond and stock offerings become more plentiful, money managers will want a piece of that action and will feel pressured to play ball.

For more:
- here's the article

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