When I was in college I interned for Lehman Brothers on their soft dollar desk. Soft dollars are basically barter agreements where an investment bank will pay for financial "services/products" for an investment company in exchange for trades (usually at a fixed ratio) down the line.

For example, Lehman would pay for Fidelity's Bloomberg cost if Fidelity traded with Lehman at ~1.5 the Bloomberg cost.  You can consider it a quid pro quo. The problem is "services/products" are pretty broad.  I seem to remember Lehman paying a lot of country club memberships and "social club" costs.  It looks like Fidelity is cracking down on this practice.

Times are changing!!!