Bear Stearns has apologised to regulators after one of its senior analysts helped to market an initial public offering - a practice banned only two weeks ago in the settlement over conflicts of interest.

Bear Stearns, one of the 10 banks to sign up to the $1.4bn (€1.2bn) settlement, allowed Richard Kissane, a managing director in equity research, to appear in a video promoting the shares of iPayment. The bank was the lead underwriter for iPayment's IPO.