Turkey: Banking sector sees $5B net profit in Jan.-July

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish banking sector posted a net profit of 28.2 billion Turkish liras ($5.1 billion) in January-July, the country's banking watchdog reported Wednesday.

The figure fell 16% year-on-year, down from 33.5 billion liras ($6.9 billion) in the same period last year, according to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

The banking sector's total assets totaled 4.17 trillion liras ($755 billion) as of end-July, rising 8.9% on a yearly basis.

In the biggest sub-category of assets, loans rose 2.9% to reach 2.5 trillion liras ($451 billion) in the same period.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkey were 2.26 trillion Turkish liras ($409.5 billion), up 15% annually.

The banking sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio -- the higher the better -- was 18.19% in July, versus 16.10% in the same month last year.

The ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans -- another crucial indicator that shows how healthy the banking sector is -- stood at 4.47% in the month.