Say what you like about Standard Life, you have to admire the company's immaculate sense of timing, writes Nick Fletcher.
After years of resisting the idea of a stock market flotation - because it was supposedly not in the interests of members - the Edinburgh elite finally performed a spectacular U-turn and decided that, yes, being a public company and not a mutual was a jolly good idea after all.
And guess what? The time it picked to go public has coincided with the worst stock market slump in years, and the business has been forced to cut its flotation price.
Still, this is not its fault is it? Who could have predicted such a global market decline?
Except ... part of Standard Life's raison d'etre is to use the money it collects from its members and invest it to get the best returns. In other words, it is supposed to be an expert in judging the mood and trends of the markets.
Still, we shouldn't be too surprised about this development given Standard Life's past performance. After all, the company continued buying shares in the early part of this decade, well after it was clear to almost everyone else that the dotcom party was over.
It also drew the attention of the City regulators who became concerned about its financial ratios after it rashly promised to make up shortfalls to endowment mortgage holders. (As it happens, this promise now turns out to be not binding, but the damage to Standard's investment portfolio has been done.)
I should declare an interest. I have a Standard Life endowment and yes, it will pay out nowhere near enough to cover the mortgage it is linked to.
I also therefore receive shares, which today are worth less than Standard said they would be a few weeks ago, and roughly a quarter of an estimated value five years ago when the company successfully campaigned against demutualisation.
There is one lesson to be drawn from this: Standard Life looks very much like a counter indicator. If the company does or says something, it would do no harm to take a quick squint at the opposite view.
