A former general representative for Lloyd’s in Japan has been recognised for his services to the British community after being named in the New Year’s Honours list.

The marine liability book will grow in prominence this year as underwriters focus their attentions on this hardening class of business and move away from the more traditional and competitive hull account.

Industry veteran Carolyn Snow, who is the director for risk management at Humana, will lead the Risk and Insurance Management Society for the next year as the organisation’s president.

Growing interest in the energy insurance industry has caused theoretical maximum capacity for a single risk in the upstream sector to rise by as much as $1bn over the course of 2013.

Excess capacity and the introduction yet more new players had a significant impact on reinsurance renewals at the turn of the year with broker Willis Re reporting rates dropped by up to a quarter in some instances.

The Lloyd’s arm of Liberty Mutual Insurance has been forced into making some changes on its board after non-executive director Richard Youell decided to retire from his position.