Many broker dealers enter distribution agreements with mutual fund companies to help sell their funds. In exchange, fund companies pay the BD. They can receive sales loads, trailing payments (rule 12b-1 fees), revenue sharing, sub-accounting fees, platform access fees, sponsorship/training fees, and the list goes on. That’s just the way this model works. Always has. In the modern era of discount brokerages, a lot of people (including academics, consumer groups, investment professionals) are uncomfortable with the broker-dealers standing to receive all those forms of compensation when a person could go to a discount brokerage and purchase the same or similar funds without incurring all those direct and indirect fees.