That means firms will have to go beyond what they do now.

Few if any firms currently disclose any specifics about their broker pay plans or particular sales incentives.

“To the extent commissions can still drive behavior,” pay plans should be disclosed, said recruiter Danny Sarch of Leitner Sarch Consultants.

Recruitment and retention deals are also not disclosed. A pending Finra rule will require that clients be given a Finra-produced document encouraging them to ask about financial incentives their broker received for moving to a new firm. But no specifics are required, and the rule does not apply to retention deals.

As it does with revenue-sharing and other similar payments from manufacturers, the DOL wants expanded disclosures.

Most brokerage firms currently disclose the maximum revenue-sharing amounts they receive by product category, but nothing about particular vendors.

The DOL says such broad categorical disclosure “covering all mutual funds, or insurance products, for example, would not be sufficiently detailed” unless the financial institution had the same deals with all providers.

That provision could reveal some major differences that providers pay.

One firm that does disclose details about revenue-sharing deals is Edward Jones. On the low end, American Funds pays Jones 2.5 basis points on fund assets held at the firm, while a number of other providers pay up to 13 basis points.

Jones agreed to make the detailed disclosures as part of a 2004 settlement with the SEC.