Timing is everything

World Finance magazine's January/February edition awards its coveted man of the year award to... Sir Allen Stanford.

World Finance’s 2008 Man of the Year award was bestowed upon Sir Allen Stanford as he clearly stood out when, two years ago, he began cautioning those in the financial services industry that an impending global economic storm was brewing. His ability to lead the Stanford Financial organisation through this current turbulent environment unscathed and his commitment to philanthropic causes in the cities around the world where Stanford conducts business were the deciding factors in selecting him as this year’s award recipient.

Up to a point, at any rate. As the editor explains:

In the light of the accusations made against Sir Allen Stanford by the SEC we have received a significant response regarding the following article and the associated award which was decided upon in the fall of 2008. When we took the decision we felt we had to discount unproven accusations from various sources that were in the news at that time. We determined that if those speculations had come to nothing it would have been an error to count them in our decision. It was a calculated editorial risk.

If the accusations prove to be substantiated, then, with the benefit of hindsight, it will have been the wrong decision - though either way it now stands as a record of the two faces of the financial industry in what was a horrible year for global markets.

We could of course have removed the article but have taken the decision instead to keep the unedited original text of the article on the site in order to document the company message and as a gauge of opinion at the time... However, the article should be read in light of recent events, and not taken as a continued endorsement of Stanford Financial Group.

If it seems too good to be true...

Well, yes.

(Thanks, Portfolio)