iSelect ramps lead fees
Financial comparison website iSelect is angling to increase revenue from customer leads by a factor as high as 15, as it overhauls the business model of its subsidiary, InfoChoice.The prospectus for the forthcoming initial public offer of iSelect shows the company makes from $3 to $200 for leads generated through its classic business model, the same as that used by InfoChoice, which it acquired in November 2011.By contrast, iSelect earns from as little as A$30to as much as $3000 for each sales lead through a more lucrative "end to end" model, with fees paid on the basis of sales conversions.The prospectus says that iSelect is "transitioning all business units to an 'end to end' (E2E) model" and "working to develop an E2E capability in the Money business units over time."It said it was doing so "in order to replicate the iSelect experience in other business units." These include the firm's traditional areas such as health and life insurance.Home loans is a much more recent segment and accounted for only one per cent of revenue in 2012.To bolster this segment it bought InfoChoice for A$33.5 million, which is equal to seven per cent of the value of the group, based on a notional market capitalisation of $479 million at the offer price of $1.85 per share.InfoChoice complements the home loan comparison service that has been developed in-house, which depends on product data sourced from the Australian Finance Group.iSelect sells home loans in its own right through AFG.In the prospectus, iSelect said it is "generally remunerated based on a percentage of the dollar value of a policy [and that] the key revenue drivers for iSelect's Health business unit are policy sales volume and the premium of policies sold.""The Company earns the majority of its revenue from two distinct streams of fee revenue, namely upfront fees and trail commissions, [with] trail commissions [including on home loans] making up the largest proportion of iSelect's revenue."In 2012, however, up-front fees displaced trail commissions as the major source of revenue.iSelect noted that at times it may "be supportive of new product providers going into existing product markets who cater to consumer demand for new product arrangements. For example, iSelect agreed to provide a secured facility to health insurer NIB to enable NIB to defer the timing of payment of upfront fees that it owes to iSelect for sales during the period expiring in July 2014."The prospectus is silent on a controversial aspect of iSelect's business model, however.Health insurance firm Bupa Australia alleged, in a case before the Federal Court of Australia, that iSelect made comparisons that were false or misleading because iSelect did not, in fact, conduct a thorough comparison of health insurers. Bupa asserted that iSelect compared only the products of those 12, of the 35, registered health insurers that paid iSelect a fee to offer their products. This comparison did not include Bupa or Medibank Private, Australia's largest health insurers.Bupa also contended that "through the operation of a quota system, iSelect does not offer the products of some