Moneysupermarket.com asserts impartiality
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Moneysupermarket.com has fended off criticism about the impartiality of its best-buy tables after Kent Reliance called for price comparison sites to be regulated.
Mike Lazenby, chief executive of Kent Relliance, says: “The size of the flotation, which is thought to be worth £1bn, highlights the power and financial muscle of these so-called best buy table providers.
“However, whilst banks, building societies and financial advisers must comply with very strict regulation by the Financial Services Authority, these price comparison sites are unregulated.
“They chose whom they wish to include in their tables and the criteria they use to judge each company and its products.
“These sites could be true consumer champions, if we could be confident that the information provided was both impartial and comprehensive.
“Unfortunately it appears that a provider’s position in the table may have more to do with the fees they pay and advertisements they place.”
But Stuart Glendinning, managing director of moneysupermarket.com, says: “We are already regulated in some of our activities surrounding personal finance and certainly would not oppose regulation of other business channels from mobile phones and broadband to our travel aggregation services provided by travelsupermarket.com.
“Our utilities service is also fully energywatch compliant and states it is on the website.
"Our best-buy tables are completely impartial and highly informative, which is why national newspapers use them every week in their personal finance pages to inform readers of the best deals on the market.”
Moneysupermarket.com says it derives revenue through sponsored links and advertisements, which are featured outside its best-buy tables, as well as by offering providers the opportunity to have a click-through link to their site, which it says does not affect a provider's position in the table.
Providers then pay a fee on traffic directed to them via these click-through links.
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