Ticket charges on direct business

This is a new one for me.  I haven't been on the board for a while, so maybe this has been discussed (I didn't find anything using search).

Are your BD's adding ticket charges to direct business, considering it, or it is just me and the rest of you wonder what the hell I am talking about?

It isn't the end of the world, but I have spent the last 4 years moving everyone possible to be direct, and now it looks like I would be better off in brokerage accounts.   Just wondering if my BD is all alone or if this is a new trend.  The reason given was that historically compliance cost was minimal for direct business, but in current climate it actually costs them more to supervise and do ID checks on direct business than brokerage accts.   Thanks.