Islamic insurance, which is known as takaful insurance, is gaining popularity in Oman with the players achieving strong growth of 64% in gross direct premium at OMR39mn last year, which constitutes around 9% of insurance industry’s OMR442mn direct premium income and 5% of total paid claims. According to the CMA’s insurance review, the direct gross premiums of the insurance industry grew by 11% to OMR442 mn in 2015, from OMR396.2 mn in the previous year. Also, the average annual growth in insurance sector in the past five years was 12%. (Times of Oman)