Turkey: Banking sector's net profit soars in Jan.-July

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

The total net profit of the Turkish banking sector amounted to 33.5 billion Turkish liras ($6.87 billion) in January-July this year, said the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) on Wednesday.

The banking sector's seven-month net profit rose by 15.5 percent year-on-year, up from net profit of around 29 billion Turkish liras ($8.28 billion) in the same period last year.

The banking watchdog said the total assets of the sector were 3.83 trillion Turkish liras ($784.4 billion) as of July 2018 with an annual hike of 27.7 percent.

Loans given by the sector -- the biggest sub-category of assets -- totaled 2.42 trillion Turkish liras ($495.6 billion) at the end of July, showing a 24.5 percent increase on a yearly basis.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at the country's lenders totaled 1.97 trillion Turkish liras ($403.7 billion) as of July, marking an annual increase of 23.5 percent.

According to the official data, the banking sector's regulatory capital to risk weighted assets ratio -- a significant indicator to figure out minimum capital requirements of lenders -- was at 16.10 percent this July, versus 16.95 percent in the same month last year.

The BDDK also reported that the ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans -- another crucial indicator that shows how healthy the banking sector is -- was 3.05 percent in July, showing a recovery compared to 3.10 percent in the same month last year.

In Turkey, 50 state/private/foreign lenders, including deposit banks, participation banks, development and investment banks had some 11,600 domestic and overseas branches with nearly 210,000 employees as of July.

Last year, the Turkish banking sector's net profit hit an all-time high, reaching around 49 billion Turkish liras ($13 billion) -- a yearly increase of 30.8 percent.

The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 4.19 in January-July this year while one dollar traded for 3.63 liras on average in the same period last year.