Challenger brands in the general insurance market have made little impact over the past year. Despite all the publicity groups like Hollard, Auto & General and their local partners have received, their premium sales have been small.KPMG insurance partner Ian Moyser said neither of those groups had achieved the minimum $200 million of gross written premium required for inclusion in its annual General Insurance Industry Survey.Auto & General's local partners include Virgin Money and Australia Post. Hollard operates through Real Insurance.The survey, released yesterday, shows that total gross written premium was up 6.3 per cent in the year to June, net claims incurred were up 0.1 per cent and aggregate net profit was up 10.7 per cent.On the downside, aggregate investment revenue fell 16.8 per cent from $3.8 billion to $3.2 billion. The bulk of insurance companies' investments are in fixed income securities. The sector produced positive investment returns in 2009/10 but more in line with long-term average returns after a very strong 2008/09.Moyser said: "New players are coming and there is talk about whether there is a new dynamic in the personal lines market. There is plenty of capital available to support business."Moyser said the bigger trend had been consolidation. The big four general insurers - Suncorp, IAG, QBE and Allianz - accounted for 77 per cent of gross written premium last year.Moyser said insurers had increased premiums on personal lines and on some commercial lines. This helped them turn around a situation where they had lost money on underwriting in 2008/09.The average combined ratio for Australian operations improved from 103.3 per cent in 2008/09 to 94.2 per cent in the year to June (the combined ratio is a measure of net claims plus underwriting expenses as a percentage of net earned premium. A combined ratio of more than 100 per cent represents an underwriting loss).