The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week blew open the doors of Credit Suisse First Boston's (CSFB's) equity capital markets operations at the height of the technology boom. The SEC's report alleges greedy and alarming tactics used by the bank's sales staff to line their own pockets in a series of 'hot' IPOs.

The report came at the end of an 18 month investigation into the firm's IPO practices, which resulted in a $100m fine for CSFB, although the firm neither admitted nor denied the allegations.