The major mortgage insurers in Australia reported a further rise in loss ratios for the September 2007 quarter. While insurance revenues are rising steadily for the insurers, their profits may have peaked. Financial statements published in the US overnight by PMI Group and last week by Genworth Financial show the two insurers, who underwrite the bulk of mortgage risk for Australian lenders, incurred similar loss ratios for the quarter of 49 per cent. Genworth's loss experience appears to have been more stable, with a reported range of between 47 per cent and 49 per cent over the last five quarters. Genworth's loss ratios were below 40 per cent, and sometimes below 30 per cent, in 2006 and earlier. PMI's loss experience is more volatile, with a loss ratio of 25 per cent in the June 2007 quarter and 52 per cent in the December 2006 quarter. PMI reported a net profit for the September 2007 quarter of A$23.2 million and A$75.5 million in the nine months to date. PMI's profit declined by 20 per cent in the third quarter from the second quarter, and is down by six per cent in the nine months to September. For Genworth, which reports its quarterly earnings in US dollars, profit in Australia (and New Zealand) increased by 38 per cent in the current quarter to US$36 million and increased by 27 per cent in the year to date to US$116 million.