Turkey: Banking sector net profit at $7.24B in Jan-Oct

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The net profit of Turkey's banking sector totaled 41.3 billion Turkish liras ($7.24 billion) in January-October, the country's banking watchdog said Friday.

The figure was down 10% on an annual basis in the first ten months of this year, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) data showed.

Total assets of the sector amounted to 4.3 trillion Turkish liras ($758.97 billion), rising by 8.3% over the same period last year.

Banking sector's total loans -- the biggest sub-category of assets -- increased by 4% year-on-year to hit 2.56 trillion Turkish liras ($450.3 billion) in the January-October period.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in the country amounted to 2.4 trillion Turkish liras ($425.5 billion), up 16.5% during the same period.

The data showed that the sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio -- the higher the better -- was 18.48% in October this year versus 18.19% in October 2018.

Measuring the health of loans, the ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans -- the lower the better -- stood at 5.15% last month, increasing from 3.47% in October last year.

A total of 51 state/private/foreign lenders -- including deposit banks, participation banks, and development and investment banks -- conducted banking activities in Turkey as of October.