Lloyds joins fray with insurance comparison site

LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyds TSB (LLOY.L) stepped into the cut-throat insurance price comparison market on Thursday and launched its own site for consumers to compare motor premiums, going head-to-head with Moneysupermarket and Confused.com.

With the site -- insurance.co.uk -- Lloyds becomes the first high street bank to go it alone in the online insurance comparison market. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), Britain's biggest car insurer, is already in the motor comparison market, but through a venture with supermarket Tesco (TSCO.L), Tesco Compare.com.

Lloyds -- which already sells car, home, pet and other general insurance under its own brand -- said its site would offer policies from a panel of 35 insurance providers and would search for requirements beyond price, to include other elements of cover that consumers require.

Lloyds joins an increasingly busy sector which, after a raft of new arrivals last year, now includes Tesco Compare.com, Admiral's (ADML.L) Confused.com, Gocompare.com and Moneysupermarket (MONY.L).

Lloyds said it saw indications that the number of consumers turning to comparison websites could double in three years.

Analysts agree the sector will continue to grow, but Lloyds is stepping into the fray at an increasingly competitive time for the market, as site owners find their margins squeezed by spending on marketing and advertising.

Earlier this week, Admiral, parent of Confused.com, one of the oldest players in the market and one of the few to turn a profit, warned that the environment was getting tougher for the price comparison sector, with ad spend set to dent margins.

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques, editing by Will Waterman)