Compare the Market says it can design a comparison website for north Queensland home and contents insurance within the Federal Government’s tight timeframe.

The company is already talking to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) about joining the tender process, MD George Meligonis told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

He says UK-based Compare the Market has the capacity for the task, with the infrastructure and a proven process.

“With the experience we have internationally, as well as in Australia, we believe we are well suited to tender to create a comparison website on behalf of ASIC.”

The Government has told ASIC to have a website ready by March, and the regulator aims to give the winning bidder a contract around December 8.

ASIC has yet to publish tender documents, but it is talking with industry participants about how the work might be done.

Insurers initially believed the site would feature representative policies and indicative prices and then direct consumers to the companies’ own websites.

But ASIC is looking at a more typical aggregator that allows consumers to enter their postcodes and details about their homes, and to get a price guide and comparison of policy features.

Insurers such as Suncorp and IAG refuse to allow their products on comparison sites, believing they place too much focus on price.

Mr Meligonis rejects insurers’ concerns they will have to give commercially sensitive information to the aggregator, or access to their platforms that enables an aggregator to find out pricing details.

“We don’t store the prices of any of our partners’ products on our website; we don’t keep data relating to pricing, so it is not possible to re-engineer pricing on the website,” he said.