Insurance equity analysts expect a significant increase in mergers and acquisitions among U.S. property-casualty insurers this year, but most do not see M&A activity as the best use of capital or the most effective way to bolster an insurer's ratings, a consulting firm's global poll has revealed.

As an alternative to M&As, respondents indicated a preference for share buybacks and dividend increases, according to the telephone survey of 108 analysts conducted for Accenture by the Institutional Investor Market Research Group.

Seventy-one percent of all p-c analysts surveyed said they anticipate a "significant increase" in M&A activity in 2008. But the study found significant differences by geography, with p-c analysts in North America three times as likely as those in Europe to predict a significant increase in such activity.

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