LONDON (Reuters) - The Lloyd's of London insurance market unveiled on Monday a three-year strategic plan aimed at ensuring its survival against increasing competition from overseas.

In recent months, a string of new insurers have been set up in Bermuda, which has a fast-growing insurance industry, to exploit demand for certain types of insurance following last year's U.S. hurricanes, which could cost the industry up to $80 billion (45.3 billion pounds).

In the strategy document, entitled "Building The Optimal Platform", sent to the chief executives of businesses in the market on Monday, Lloyd's sets out key objectives the market must deliver by 2008 to meet the growing threat to its business.

"It must be easy to access and do business with Lloyd's. The market's performance must be stable offering good returns, and the cost of doing business at Lloyd's must be competitive," the market's chairman Lord Peter Levene wrote in the document.

Several of the new Bermuda-based units have been created by Lloyd's insurers, including Amlin, Hiscox and Kiln.

They have highlighted the attraction of lower costs offered on Bermuda as well as its proximity to the US, the world's largest market for non-life insurance, from where Lloyd's gets most of its business.

Julian James, a senior market executive, admitted in a speech last November that the 317-year-old market's survival was at risk unless it could adapt to the challenge presented by rival insurance centres like Bermuda.

The strategic plan, which is the product of a year's work by the market, included the proposal that businesses that have better operating track records should be required to hold less capital in the market than those that do not.

Lloyd's should also develop clear performance standards so all businesses know what they must do and what the penalties may be for failing to live up to these, the plan proposed.

The market should also pare down its expenses so the cost of doing business there is roughly the same as other insurance centres, it said.