In the 1970s, risk for banks was limited because most trades were on behalf of customers, Leach said. In the ensuing 40 years, financial institutions bore more of the exposure to losses directly in trades. The addition of derivatives made it harder to understand the full risks -- and the unexpected risks were what ultimately overwhelmed old habits, he said.

Companies have had plenty of warning about unexpected risk, Leach said, pointing to his experiences with Long-Term Capital Management. The hedge fund, whose partners included Nobel laureates Myron Scholes and Robert Merton, lost $4 billion in 1998 after a debt default by Russia and had to be rescued by a group of 14 securities firms and banks.

After Lehman Brothers, Long-Term Capital seems "quaint," Leach said.

"The value of the job has gone up because people have seen how badly things can go if you aren't paying attention," said Kevin Blakely, chief risk officer at Huntington Bancshares Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, and former CEO of the Risk Management Association. "There is no shortage of companies that will pay for a good risk officer now."

Direct Access

They typically have direct access to the board of directors' risk committee and ensure that all areas of the company have considered the risks of their business activity, said Blakely, 60, who has worked in the CRO field for more than two decades. He was also a regulator with the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency.

Another change is the CRO's role in working with the board to define what the appropriate risk is for the company and for each business unit so that operating executives have to take responsibility for avoiding risk that doesn't fit the company rules, he said.

Thompson was appointed to the Bank of America risk job in January 2010 as CEO Brian Moynihan put together a new leadership team. The team is working to recover from mortgage losses inherited in the 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. and restore the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank into a "growth company." Thompson wasn't available to comment.

He was one of three executives at the nation's largest bank whose 2010 compensation exceeded Moynihan's $1.94 million, according to a company regulatory filing. Sallie Krawcheck, president of global wealth and investment management and Neil Cotty, chief accounting officer, also received more than Moynihan, the filing showed. Moynihan's $950,000 base salary was the highest among all the executives where pay was disclosed, exceeding Thompson by $150,000 for the year.

Rising Profile

Bank of America selected Terry Laughlin, the company's top manager for sour loans and foreclosures, to take over as chief risk officer late in the third quarter, according to an internal memo obtained July 8 by Bloomberg News.