Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia has reported higher losses from Queensland and WA as the mining boom winds down.

The company’s profit dropped 25% to $113 million in the first half after it booked $19.9 million of investment losses due to revaluing assets to current market prices.

If the mark-to-market losses are excluded, Genworth’s profit fell only marginally on the corresponding period last year.

Gross written premium fell 9% to $285.4 million on lower volumes.

New insurance written grew 2% to $17.7 billion, while the number of mortgage delinquencies increased 9% to 5900.

Genworth’s loss ratio increased to 22.1% from 19.6%, and its combined operating ratio deteriorated to 48.8% from 44.7%.

About 26% of Genworth’s portfolio is lending for investment property, compared with 37% of mortgages written.

CEO and MD Ellie Comerford says Genworth delivered a solid performance and is on track to increase net earned premium by up to 5% for the full year.

The company expects a full-year loss ratio of 25-30%.

Ms Comerford called for the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to adopt the recommendations of the Financial System Inquiry and recognise lenders’ mortgage insurance when assessing risk weightings for banks.

“We believe that a strong and stable mortgage insurance business such as ours greatly benefits the risk management framework of the Australian banking system,” she said.