Anonymized Transaction Data is Essential for Global Economic Health

Fable Data was recognized by the Hedge Fund Industry as the *Best European Alternative Data Supplier 2021. Put simply we are experts at supplying and interpreting anonymized real time banking and credit card data. This strength enables us to have a finger on the pulse of the latest global economic and market insights.

And why does this matter? Because by partnering with banks across Europe, Fable’s bespoke approach to data ethics and compliance translates into anonymized samples of consumer and SME spend data delivering unparalleled economic insights to governments, companies, institutional investors, and academia. This factual, not derived, European dataset is incredibly powerful when expertly put to work.

For banks we create new, meaningful, and recurring revenues, helping them unlock significant hidden value from this new emerging data economy, while simultaneously revealing customer insights and wider patterns of expenditure.

We are proud to be one of the fasting growing start-ups in Europe, with teams located across Europe, America, and Asia. However, building a strong, ethical organization while pioneering new technologies, products, and markets in an industry as regulated and conservative as European banking, is hard.

Four years into our journey we are only now realizing the enormous value to our clients and partners of our strict compliance and corporate ethics policies, and how these have enabled us to collaborate with total confidence while making massive strides forward.

The founding team at Fable are a diverse bunch of individuals, having enjoyed significant successes elsewhere, including building and selling insight businesses, as financial market traders and senior bankers.

I believe that Fable’s strengths lie primarily in our purpose and our people, which we always balance with our profit. As a business every decision gives equal consideration to our ‘three Ps’, and though in the micro sometimes these Ps conflict, in the macro view they support and enhance each other.

So, what do we mean by these three Ps?

Well, our Purpose is to drive better decision-making in the economy, whether that be by governments, companies, or investors. These are the institutions that create jobs, invest in infrastructure, and generate economic well-being and tax receipts for us all. The better data we can provide, the better they can allocate scarce resources and make sure that we all get the biggest bang from the hard-earned taxes that we pay. And there is simply no better economic data than that drawn from factual, anonymized large-scale banking data. I am both humbled and proud to count the central banks, finance ministries, universities and development bodies from the world’s largest economies, as the cornerstone adopters of Fable’s pioneering data sets.

Our People are the reason I come to work. We strive to create fulfilling and fair careers for all at Fable, giving them interesting work, and sufficient support and freedom to do their best work. Just as importantly we make sure our team balances work with life. Building a meaningful business takes a decade, at least, and to stay the course you have to prioritize time for life and rest, not just work.

Profit is essential, it gives us the funds to innovate and grow. While our institutional investors are not faceless moneymen as the media likes to portray, but instead are the prudential custodians of the nation’s savings and pensions. The profit they generate from Fable’s data insights delivers the returns on all of our savings and investments that support us, and our offspring, in our later years. This is a huge responsibility and one of the fundamental reasons why Fable was established, to ensure that the best quality data was feeding this critical process.

So how do Fable’s ‘three Ps’ play out together? As with any business, sometimes there are conflicts and trade-offs to be reckoned with. However, the bigger picture of our laser-focused commitment to supplying insightful quality data enables both clarity of thought and purpose in all of our work. This means we attract and retain great people, and by ensuring that our people are doing their best work, in a healthy and sustainable way, they drive our profit, almost by accident.

Working with European banks and their data assets, our commitment to Purpose, People, and Profits has driven our success. Banks are human organizations, and they respect our purpose and enjoy working with our people. The fact that Fable drives recurring and meaningful new sources of profit at a local level makes our model increasingly compelling for banks.

I said that working with European banks can be hard. But it is also really gratifying. And doing it with great people and purpose means it is a challenge that we revel in every day. Looking ahead, we are successfully expanding our European data sets, increasing our advanced analytical sophistication, and enabling our clients to unearth new insights and analyses all the time. It’s an exciting time for Fable, our data suppliers, and our clients, as well as the entire European transaction data landscape, and we are excited to be on this fulfilling journey.

Luke Kennedy

www.fabledata.com

HFM European Technology Awards, Best Alternative Data Supplier 2021*