That's a good find...

100% speculation: the CRO told them loading up on long term bonds was crazy, and that they'd just have to eat lower earnings. The CEO/CFO disagreed, and the CRO didn't want to have any part of it. Hindsight is 20/20, but... this really was a disaster waiting to happen.

Not completely sure about that:

"A risk officer typically anticipates and manages regulatory, operational, competitive or other risks faced by a firm."

That looks like _non-financial_ risks. If that was the role of the CRO at SVB, the risk for this event probably should have been with the CFO?

“Operational” at a bank includes financial risks.

I know of at least one large European bank where it explicitly doesn't.