By Gokhan Ergocun
ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's participation banks’ net profit soared 32.9% in 2018, compared with the previous year.
The net profit of banks totaled nearly 2.1 billion Turkish liras ($398 million), according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency from Turkey's banking watchdog and unconsolidated balance sheets.
The assets of Kuveyt Turk, Albaraka, Turkiye Finans, Ziraat and Vakif soared 29.1% to reach 206.6 billion Turkish liras ($39.2 billion) as of December on a yearly basis.
Their deposits also rose 30.1% to 136.6 billion Turkish liras ($25.9 billion) as of December, compared with the same month last year.
Loans issued by the banks rose 15 percent to reach nearly 112.5 billion Turkish liras ($21.3 billion) during the first 12 months of 2018 on a yearly basis.
Among five banks, Kuveyt Turk saw the highest net profit with 869.8 million Turkish liras ($165 million), up by 29 percent year-on-year in 2018.
Turkiye Finans recorded 444.75 million Turkish liras ($84.4 million) in net profit. State-run Vakif's net profit reached 325.4 million Turkish liras ($61.75 million).
Another state-run Ziraat bank and private lender Albaraka followed with 322.66 million ($61.22 million) and 133.97 million Turkish liras ($25.4 million) net profit, respectively.
- Over 1,100 branches and 15,650 personnel
Participation banks' regulatory capital to risk-weighted assets ratio -- a significant indicator to figure out minimum capital requirements of lenders -- was at 15.75 percent as of December.
The total number of five banks' domestic and international branches was 1,122, while they employed around 15,654 staff as of end of last year.
Turkish participation banking sector is expected to grow 30 percent in 2019, Osman Akyuz, head of the Participation Banks Association of Turkey, said in February.
Meanwhile, the Turkish banking sector -- including all type of lenders -- posted a 53.8 billion Turkish liras ($10.2 billion) net profit in the 12-month period.
The total assets of Turkey's banking sector amounted to 3.87 trillion Turkish liras ($734.84 billion).
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.27 as of end of 2018.