Genworth Financial may wait until late in 2013 to sell a minority stake in its Australian mortgage insurance business.Martin Klein, acting president of Genworth told a conference call yesterday that "executing a partial sale of our Australia MI [mortgage insurance] platform remains a key goal."Genworth has said in the past it planned to sell a stake of up to 40 per cent of its Australian business. Losses in the business forced a postponement of that plan last year.Klein said yesterday that "we want to execute a transaction where it makes the most sense for shareholders. "Execution of an IPO is subject to market valuation and regulatory considerations, and we continue to not expect an IPO to occur until the fourth quarter of this year or later."The presentation made it clear that Genworth now regards its Australian business as "non-core".Profits from the Australian business may be patchy this year.A presentation released by Genworth says it expects a "modest decline" in new business this year and a rise in its loss ratio to between 40 per cent and 50 per cent.Paul Fegan, the recently appointed local chief financial officer of Genworth, clarified that while the loss ratio was less than 40 per cent in the December quarter it had exceeded 50 per cent in some quarters over the last year.Fegan said Genworth was working with lenders "to make sure they present claims on a timely basis."