Cowen Latest to 'Unbundle'

Cowen is the second boutique to cite unbundling as a potential risk to its business. Thomas Weisel also said in its recent IPO filing that unbundling could "impair the revenues of our brokerage business."

Although Wall Street has been somewhat enamored of the unbundling trend, some executives have recently spoken candidly about the evolution of the trading business, and the reasons for Wall Street to cut such deals.

On a recent call with Prudential analyst Chris Spahr and a group of institutional investors, Alliance Bernstein(AB) chief Lewis Sanders said of the research vs. trading tug of war, "Our approach to the business, it is actually evolving."

"The bottom line from our point of view is [unbundling] is a good thing," Sanders said. "Because what it really means is that value propositions that are well supported are more likely to win out. Any time there is increased exposure and scrutiny and attention, then I think it is a natural result that pricing will align itself with underlying value."

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