Future : welcomes FCA’s measures to ensure greater competition

28th May 2021- Future plc and its FCA-regulated subsidiary GoCompare today welcome the FCA's policy statement on general insurance pricing and expect it will encourage more consumers to shop around on price comparison websites, thereby increasing the level of switching.

With switching levels in the UK car insurance market standing at only c.30% today, the growth opportunity for price comparison websites (PCWs) is significant.

We believe the FCA's changes to auto-renewals will prompt more customers to take action to achieve a better price or get better value, and therefore use a price comparison website to switch insurance providers. By making it simpler for consumers to stop auto-renewals - which can otherwise be a time-consuming and frustrating process for consumers - the switching process will be made easier.

Furthermore, we expect the FCA's changes will force insurers to reconsider risk pricing for some consumers, which will likely mean wider disparity in pricing for the same consumer across different insurers. As a result, we expect consumers may see some price volatility in the near-term, which will increase the attraction of PCWs' ability to save consumers money through the selection of an alternative insurer offering better price or value.

With our longstanding focus on helping consumers get value for money, we believe GoCompare is well positioned to meet this increased switching audience.

Lee Griffin, founder of GoCompare, said:

'Price comparison websites have been disrupting the insurance market for the last 15 years and GoCompare's success has been enabled by a desire to ensure the consumer remains at the heart of everything it does. We therefore welcome the FCA's reforms, which we expect will increase the level of switching amongst consumers as they shop around for insurance deals that are cheaper and provide better value.'

On 4thMay 2021, Future hosted a webinar for investors and analysts on 'Price Comparison Websites and Regulation', which can be viewedhere.

During the session, Future explained how, against the backdrop of increased switching, Future's brands spanning a range of verticals present a unique opportunity to work with GoCompare to provide authoritative advice and help for consumers earlier in their intent journey, as well as leveraging Future's existing SEO expertise to increase the addressable market.