Claim levels on the mortgage insurer Genworth Financial remain "elevated", the company said yesterday.Claims by insured home-loan funders were A$71 million in the December 2012 quarter, down from $81 million in the September quarter.Claim hot-spots remain loans advanced to borrowers in Queensland and also to small business owners and the self-employed. Genworth said the proportion of insured loans in arrears improved over the quarter, to 0.41 per cent, from 0.47 per cent, and were also down from 0.55 per cent year ago.The company said it made a profit of US$62 million in the December quarter, up from US$54 million in the final quarter of 2011.New business levels picked up, with new sales of US$9.6 billion during the quarter, a rise of more than 20 per cent.Genworth put its book value at US$2.3 billion as of the end of the year and continues to consider a stock market float of a minority holding in its Australian business sometime this year.