No CRO At Silicon Valley Bank When Its Troubles Began

The Chief Risk Officer of Silicon Valley Bank stepped down in April 2022. Her replacement wasn’t hired until nine months later, in January 2023. According to Fortune, “it is unclear how the bank managed risks in the interim.” Not very well, apparently. Before SVB collapsed, its governance structure had the Chief Risk Officer reporting directly to a Risk Committee, which included the Board Chair and the Chairpersons of all committees – seven members in all when the run on the bank began, and SVB went from a market cap of more than $15 billion to seizure by the FDIC in a matter of days. The period of time when SVB went without a CRO coincided with the rise of interest rates to control inflation, and the drop in the kinds of deals that were the Bank’s lifeblood. As of 3-20, First Citizens BancShares and several other financial institutions were hoping to make a deal to buy SVB.