Net profit of Turkish banking sector up 52.5% in January-September

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye’s banking sector posted a net profit of 439.66 billion Turkish liras ($16.12 billion) in the January-September period, the country’s banking watchdog said on Monday.

The sector’s net profit was up 52.5% on a yearly basis in the first nine-month period, according to data by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA).

Total assets of the sector rose 61.1% year-on-year to 21.09 trillion Turkish liras ($772.86 billion) as of the end of September, the report showed.

Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, were 10.7 trillion Turkish liras ($392.34 billion), up 56.6% compared with the same period of the last year.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Türkiye – the largest liabilities item – totaled nearly 13.3 trillion Turkish liras ($487.7 billion), up some 65.2% year-on-year.

The sector’s regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio stood at 18.83% as of the end of last month, while the ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans was 2.28%.

A total of 54 state/private/foreign lenders – including deposit, participation, and development and investment banks – conducted banking activities in Türkiye as of September.

The sector had 205,215 employees, serving through 11,164 branches both in Türkiye and overseas.