Methodology

Sourcing

Every factual claim on a profile page is expected to resolve to an entry in that profile's Sources and References list. A claim that cannot be traced to a named, retrievable source is either marked as verified or removed.

Sources are ranked by proximity to the underlying fact:

1. Regulatory filings. Documents submitted to a supervisory authority, where the filer bears legal responsibility for accuracy.
2. First-party publications. Press releases, official corporate pages, annual reports and press kits issued by the subject or their employer.
3. Attributed interviews. Published interviews where the subject speaks directly.
4. News coverage that names its own source. Reporting that identifies where its information came from.
5. Unattributed coverage. Recorded, but never sufficient on its own to move a claim out of verified.

Where two sources conflict, both are recorded and the affected claim is marked as verified until an editor resolves the discrepancy. The conflict is not hidden by silently preferring one account.

Figures and amounts

A transaction value appears only where a figure was publicly disclosed and recorded against a source. Where no amount is shown, none was disclosed. Amounts are never estimated, inferred from round size, converted from an undisclosed valuation, or carried over from a similar transaction.

This produces profiles that look sparser than the surrounding press coverage would suggest. That is the intended outcome: the directory documents the public record, not the consensus impression of it.

What is never published

Certain categories of information are excluded by policy regardless of whether they are available:

• Home addresses or any private residential information.
• Personal telephone numbers and personal email addresses.
• Information about family members who are not themselves public figures.
• Identity documents, tax records or other personal documentation.
• Estimates of personal wealth or net worth.
• Rumours, unattributed allegations and speculation presented as fact.

These exclusions apply even when the information circulates publicly elsewhere. Availability is not the test; relevance to a professional public record is.

Verification states

Every record and every individual claim is presented with a verified state.

• Verified. Confirmed against at least one cited public source that meets the sourcing standard above.

The state is shown on the page, next to the claim it describes, so a reader can see the verification context directly.

The editorial ranking

The ranking scores how thoroughly an investor's activity is documented in the public record. It is an editorial judgement produced against the criteria below, not a financial measurement.

• Documented investment activity (30%). Volume and consistency of transactions that are traceable to an identifiable public source.
• Sector and market breadth (20%). Range of industries and geographic markets in which activity is publicly documented.
• Organisational responsibility (20%). Scope of publicly disclosed executive, partnership and board responsibilities.
• Public record quality (20%). Availability, independence and recency of the sources supporting the profile.
• Cross-border relevance (10%). Documented activity spanning more than one country in the directory's coverage area.

No criterion references wealth, assets under management, portfolio value or investment returns. A profile with substantial but undisclosed activity will score lower than one with modest, well-documented activity. That is by design: the ranking measures the public record, and says so.

Positions are reviewed twice a year. Movement between editions frequently reflects a change in source availability rather than a change in the subject's activity, which is why every entry carries a short written justification alongside its score.

Inclusion and position are editorial decisions. No individual or organisation can pay to be included, to be ranked higher, or to be removed on request where the underlying information is public and correctly sourced.

Common questions

What counts as a public source?

A retrievable document published by an identifiable party: a regulatory filing, a company press release, an official corporate page, an annual report, a published interview, or news coverage that names its own source. A claim that cannot be traced to such a document is marked as verified or removed.

Why are some fields blank on a profile?

Because the information was never publicly disclosed. The directory treats an absent figure as more useful than an estimated one, so blank fields render as an explicit "not disclosed" rather than a guess or a zero.

What is excluded from a profile regardless of availability?

Home addresses, personal telephone numbers, personal email addresses, information about family members who are not themselves public figures, identity documents, and estimates of personal wealth. These exclusions apply even when such information circulates publicly elsewhere.

How is a profile kept current?

Each profile carries a last-reviewed date rather than only a publication date. A profile not reviewed within the current cycle is marked as verified, and that status appears in the page header rather than in metadata.

Corrections are welcomed from the subject of a profile, from any organisation named on one, and from readers who can point to a source. See the editorial policyfor how corrections are handled.