Matthew Donaldson said beyond its press release the FCA acknowledged that aggregators were good for customers
BGL chief executive Matthew Donaldson has hit back at the press release published alongside the FCA’s thematic review into price comparison sites that accused aggregators of focusing more on price than other policy features.
Speaking in an Insurance Times interview published today, Donaldson said he was unhappy with last month’s release, labelling it a ‘nonsense’.
The FCA said that aggregators failed to provide clear information, meaning customers were at risk of not understanding the products on offer.
But Donaldson, whose company owns Comparethemarket, said the review was based on a small amount of data and then the press release failed to point out all the benefits of price comparison sites.
“We do not agree with it – consumers have never enjoyed such great pricing, with the transparency price comparison sites have brought,” he said.
“The headline spoke to a small bit of data around some customers suggesting they would like more transparency.”
Donaldson added, however, that beyond the press release the report referred to how good for customers price comparison sites were.
He said: “I am no statistician but those statistics are completely invalid on the basis that the only involvement was from around 50 customers and a handful said it would be good to get some transparency.
“It is just spurious commentary really. We need to look at the content of the report that does clearly refer to how good for customers price comparison sites are.”
Following the review, the BGL boss who said he welcomed the investigation, added he was in an ongoing dialogue with the regulator.
“We have a really good relationship with the FCA. It has been a very productive engagement and our objectives are completely aligned with them, which is why we are disappointed with the headline-grabbing nature of the press release they put out, on the back of the really productive dialogue we had with them.”
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