NU Online News Service, April 13, 3:49 p.m. EDT

Consumers in foreign insurance markets surveyed by Accenture are willing to shop for new insurance providers, and are increasingly shopping online for coverage, an activity that mirrors U.S. trends, an Accenture representative said.

The consulting firm's poll queried 3,500 consumers in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom about their intentions when purchasing individual auto, home and life insurance products.

The survey found that 53 percent are considering switching insurance providers over the next 12 months.

The survey also found that the Internet is "gaining significant ground on banks and insurance agents as the preferred channel for buying insurance," Accenture said.

While 59 percent of consumers said they purchased current policies through an agent, and 33 percent through a bank, only 49 percent and 27 percent respectively said they are planning to purchase insurance through those channels over the next 12 months.

Forty-three percent said they plan to purchase at least one policy online over the next 12 months, signaling increased interest when compared with the 34 percent who said they had already purchased at least one policy online.

Serge Callet, global managing director of Accenture's Insurance practice, said, "Seventy-percent of the U.K. consumers surveyed plan to purchase their policies online over the next 12 months. This confirms the dominance of insurance Web sites and aggregators in the U.K.

"But our survey also revealed surprisingly strong online growth in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Brazil, where the number of consumers planning to buy policies online in the next 12 months is 10 percentage points, on average, greater than those who had done so previously."

Michael Costonis, managing director of Accenture's North American insurance practice, said U.S. data Accenture has gathered points to similar trends among consumers, albeit not at the high percentages seen in the foreign markets.

In a previous survey, he said, 20 percent of the U.S. market across property and casualty and life insurance is in play, and consumers show a high propensity toward online channels.

This trend is particularly seen among younger buyers, Mr. Costonis said. While 30 percent of U.S. consumers indicated a desire to buy insurance over the Internet, he said, 43 percent of buyers aged 18-24 wished to do so.

While U.S. insurers and insurers abroad are "about equal" as far as offering online channels to consumers, Mr. Costonis said both groups are lagging behind compared to other industries.

"Both have long way to go to bring online channels to what consumers are looking for," he said.

Insurers are just starting to dip into features such as true self service and the ability to upload information, he noted, while other industries have had these features for some time.

Mr. Costonis mentioned consumer goods and retail as industries could look to and learn from with respect to improving online channels.