At least one of Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) insurance brands is expected to appear on Tesco’s forthcoming aggregator site.
The move by RBS to allow an insurance brand to participate in a price comparison site would represent a U-turn by the banking giant, which has taken an anti-aggregator stance.
Sources said one RBS insurance brand, thought to be Churchill, had indicated its interest in participating in Tesco’s price comparison site, which is expected to be launched later this month.
Other RBS insurance brands include Direct Line and Privilege. It is expected Tesco will use access to RBS insurance brands as a unique selling point for its website.
Richard Mason, director of insurance for Moneysuper-market.com said the move would create concerns for competitiveness within the market.
He said: “What RBS would be doing is denying its brands the opportunity to advertise themselves with other companies.”
Uswitch.com commercial manager Ashton Berkhauer said if RBS decided to keep its brands off other sites, it would be a blow to aggregators trying to operate in a fair and open manner.
Berkhauer said uSwitch welcomed the entry of Tesco into the market because its brand was so recognisable it could only increase the awareness of aggregators.
However he said his company would be disappointed if RBS blocked its insurers from the competition.
Direct Line, which in the past launched a war of words against the price comparison market, said it would maintain its anti-aggregator position.
Tesco and Churchill were unavailable for comment.
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