Surge in Turkey's banking sector net profits: report

By Bekir Gurdamar

ISTANBUL (AA) - The combined net profits of Turkey’s banking sector rose by 50 percent year-on-year to 21.2 billion Turkish liras ($6 billion) in the first five months of the year, according to a banking agency on Monday.

In its report, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency said total assets increased by 200 billion liras ($56.27 billion) or 7.3 percent, from the end of 2016 and stood at 2.931 trillion liras ($826 billion) in May.

Meanwhile, credits increased by 8.9 percent and reached 1.89 trillion Turkish liras ($532 billion) year-on-year by the end of May.

The capital adequacy ratio, a vital gauge of the health of a country’s banking sector, was at 16.7 percent for the first five months of the year, the report added.

The biggest source of funds for banks, deposits, were up by 7.3 percent from the previous month to 1.56 trillion Turkish liras ($439.3 billion).