Financial Conduct Authority to investigate price comparison websites
Price comparison websites are to be investigated to determine whether they could be misleading customers.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will examine 14 sites to identify any possible conflicts of interests, such as sites being owned by insurers themselves, and question their bosses about whether the customer or profit is really at the heart of a business model.
FCA spokesman David Cross said: "If insurers happen to own a particular price comparison website there is a concern that could create a conflict of interest whereby their products are promoted over others.
"When someone searches for something, are they necessarily getting the best deal for them, or are they just getting the deal the website want to give them?"
In a statement MoneySupermarket insisted that it was an independent company and not part of any insurance group.
It said: "MoneySupermarket gives customers the information they need to save money on the products that suit them. It's a case of helping people find the same cover for less, or better cover for the same price - or less. If a policy doesn't offer breakdown insurance, for example, we'll show the extra cost of that.
"Customers have different needs; nearly half our customers do not buy the cheapest product on the market and prefer to select on features or brand.
"We are a free service to our customers, we do not receive a commission for our services we do however receive a small flat fee for every customer who buys a policy which is completely independent of policy value."
Compare the Market, which has become one of the UK's best known comparison sites through its meerkat advertising, declined to comment.