Banks Are Risky. Silicon Valley Bank’s Risk Officer Was AWOL.
7 min read . Updated: 23 Mar 2023, 06:07 PM IST 
PremiumIt might be the most thankless job in finance—and success means averting danger. Before SVB failed, the bank operated without a risk manager for eight months.
James Lam had just been hired by a new financial division of GE Capital when he walked into his boss’s office with a problem: He was ordering business cards and had no idea what to put on them. Since his position didn’t really exist, it also didn’t have a title, so he was given permission to invent one. He called himself a chief risk officer.