Streaming out of Wall Street at day's end, most traders -- some still in the colored jackets that identify their firm on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange -- avoid talking to reporters.

It's the same in London and Paris, but some, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirm that the caution inspired by the near-collapse of the global financial system appears to be fading.

"The ones who pulled out of the market, who really pared back their presence, are coming back, especially in the US firms. Memory in this sector is short," said a trader at a Paris brokerage.

"I noticed in talking with my colleagues that when you work in a particular area, you have the feeling that the crisis wasn't triggered in your own sector. No one feels responsible as an individual.

"People don't think they are taking unreasonable risks. A big part of the job anyway is taking risks. No risk, no profit."

Leaders of the G20 most powerful economies are to tackle the delicate problem of how to curb excessive risk at a two-day summit opening Thursday in the US city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In New York, Gregory Volokhin, an equity adviser at Meeschaert Asset Management, agreed that markets are once again being lured by risk.

"There's really a return to aggressive selling by the banks which are trying to push different products, not based on mortgage loans, but which are products that have a leverage effect, with risk levels that can be relatively large," he explained.

Opaque financial products, some backed by mortgage loans, are considered to have been at the root of the crisis that plunged the world economy into its biggest period of uncertainty since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Lindsay Piegza, an economist at FTN Financial, insisted her firm had changed tack -- taking smaller positions, holding them for shorter periods and making security a priority, with Treasury bonds, for example, and shunning assets linked to real estate or complex derivatives.

"We've altered models, we've altered our entire mind set of how we view risk," Piegza said.

"The question is: Do we maintain that mind set for the long haul or is it just for the short term and we forget how bad it can get?"

A trader at a major US bank remarked that he can no longer do what he wants with his portfolio as his bosses will not let him make certain decisions.

This was necessary because when the crisis erupted, he recalled, it was "clear we didn't have the right risk management."

There is no doubt the financial profession is on the defensive, particularly regarding pay. Many argue that massive bonuses are unjustifiable in the current climate and say they fueled the risk that led to the crisis in the first place.

"There's no such thing (as a bonus) anymore," said Piegza. "It's now called exceptional performance compensation."

In London, an employee of a US investment bank said bonuses had been cut by up to 60 percent for the most senior staff, and by 15-20 percent for the newest ones, "where bonuses account for a major part of their compensation.

"I understand the resentment against traders, who work eight hours a day and earn millions. And it's true that around me there are people who are there only for the money, and that's too bad," he said.

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