Hefty trading losses and writedowns on Russian bonds stung banks like Chase Manhattan Corp, Bank of America Corp and JP Morgan & Co Inc when the country defaulted on its debt and devalued its currency last August.

Scarred, banks say they have eliminated staff in Russia even while keeping offices open. They also have drastically reduced lending there, overhauled risk measurement standards and pulled away from trading for their own books.

"We pulled back in terms of the size of staff in Russia, cutting it by about 60 percent," Herb Aspbury, Chase Manhattan's regional executive for Europe, Africa and the Middle East said. "The doors are open and we are doing a very, very modest amount of business there but we are taking no risk really...We don't want to abandon the country because it is too importantbut based on the experience of last year, we are not going to be in risk-taking mode."

Banks that last September warned of weaker results because of losses in Russia now are hanging back and doing business only to meet clients' demands, instead of piling up loans and adding employees in Russia as they did prior to the country's default.

The cash-strapped country, which on August 17 last year effectively devalued the rouble and defaulted on billions of dollars in loans, is trying to hammer out an agreement to reschedule some $32 billion owed the London Club of commercial creditors. Separately, it owes the Paris Club of nations $38 billion.

The International Monetary Fund, which recently approved a $4.5 billion loan to Russia, has said Russia's economy still faces considerable risks and that the government must revive structural reforms.

While Russia negotiates, global banks have kept a low profile. Bank of America, the biggest US bank, has lowered its staffing levels in Russia after the devaluation,and its loan exposure to the Russian federation now stands at $33 million, substantially below $432 million last year, it said.

Part of its global strategy now is to reduce its risk profile and curtail proprietary trading in emerging markets.

CS First Boston, the investment banking arm of Credit Suisse Group Inc, now employs about 200 people in Russia, about 100 less than before. Last year's collapse of the Russian market left the firm, which had been the largest holder of defaulted Russian treasury bills, with provisions and net write-offs of $1.3 billion in 1998.

Other banks also were hit. Chase estimated it would write off about $200 million for commercial loans it believed were not recoverable in last year's third quarter, mostly reflecting fiscal turmoil in Asia and Russia.