Two-thirds of 104 of the world's top insurance companies plan to expand operations outside of their home markets in the next 12 months, according to a survey published Wednesday by consultancy firm Accenture, indicating interest among insurers to grow their businesses despite the global financial crisis.

"Having already maximized their domestic footprints, carriers are looking to emerging markets, where premium growth is significantly higher because of catch-up dynamics," said Serge Callet, managing director of Accenture's insurance practice.

"However, to generate profitable international expansion, insurers will need to accelerate product innovation, drive new levels of operational efficiency, and increase the simplification and standardization of their internal operations across entire regions," Callet said.

The survey was conducted from December of last year to April of this year, "at the time when the financial services industry was facing one of its deepest crises ever," Accenture said. It involved 51 property-and-casualty insurers and 53 life insurers with total combined premiums of more than $1 trillion.

The questions were answered by senior executives who take part in deciding on the international expansion of their companies.

Among other findings, the survey also showed that 75% of the companies believe that the current economic and financial turmoil will offer more opportunities to grow outside of their home markets in the next three years.

It said their expansion plans would help them in "spreading risks and balancing business cycles" as well as managing costs more efficiently.

More than eight out of 10 insurers from industrialized countries and nine out of 10 insurers from emerging economies said that emerging markets are a priority for them.

When asked to select the broad regions in which they expect to invest over the next three years, respondents most often cited the "BRIC" countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, followed by other Asian countries and then Western Europe.

Accenture noted that U.K.-listed Amlin PLC (AML.LN), which is also one of the biggest Lloyd's of London insurers, agreed last week to buy Fortis Corporate Insurance for EUR350 million from the Dutch government.

MetLife Inc. (MET) Chief Executive Robert Henrikson said last month that his company wants to expand in Japan and could do this through acquisitions.

Dutch insurer Aegon NV (AEG) said Tuesday it wants to consolidate its operations and is looking at overseas acquisitions to help achieve cost savings.

The survey showed that insurers will seek "better global integration to manage operations across several countries and/or regions." More than four in five insurers said that they are currently improving or planning to change their back-office capabilities "to make their international expansion more efficient."

The 104 respondents included 28 from the U.S., 11 from Italy, nine from the U.K., eight each from Spain and South Korea, seven from France, six from Australia, five each from Brazil, China and Japan, four from Denmark, two each from India, Germany and Switzerland, and one each from Singapore and Finland.

Company Web site: www.accenture.com

By Vladimir Guevarra, Dow Jones Newswires. Tel. +44 (0) 2078429486, vladimir.guevarra@dowjones.com