That's interesting. Why the bribe?
You don't mince words, do you? LOL!
Considering that this will cost the NASD $1.75MM (5,000 member firms x $35k), that is a very good question.
Just speculation, mind you, but I think a few factors resulted in the "payment to reflect the cost savings the consolidation will produce" (NASD's language), aka "bribe".
1. Most of the NASD member firms are considered to be "small firms", which the company defines as firms having less than 150 sales reps. They will need those firms to approve the bylaw changes, for this to happen.
2. For some strange reason. :-^) a lot of small brokers have come to the conclusion over the last few years that they are being regulated out of existence and have become suspicious of the NASD. I've heard from quite a few firms that insist that the NASD is really a puppet of the 20 largest brokerage firms. (Personally, I believe that is overstating the regulatory environment of the last five years, but it does contain a tiny nugget of truth.) The $35k is just one bone being tossed to the small firms. The new governing body of the consolidated SRO will have MORE small firm representation, on a proportional basis than the firms have with the NASD. And supposedly, the NYSE and NASD rules are to be pared down when the rules are integrated.
3. Simple good business practice. Write some big checks, mend some fences, add 200 HUGE firms to your revenue base (thus recouping your costs over 3-5 years), and keep the SEC happy for a while.
Make no mistake, the feds REALLY want this happen. Which means NASD REALLY wants it to happen, too.