Turkey: Banking sector's net profit surges in Jan-Sept

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's banking sector's net profit reached 42.2 billion Turkish liras ($7.06 billion) this January-September, the country's banking watchdog reported Tuesday.

The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) said the sector's nine-month net profit saw a 13.4-percent annual rise, up from 37.2 billion liras ($10.5 billion) over the same period last year.

As of September, the banking sector's total assets were 4.2 trillion liras ($705.2 billion), a climb of 55.4 percent year-on-year.

Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, grew 29.7 percent on a yearly basis to 2.6 trillion liras ($433.7 billion) at the end of September.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkey totaled 2.1 trillion liras ($358.2 billion), up 30.6 percent in the same period.

At the end of this September, one U.S. dollar was traded for some 6.10 Turkish liras, versus a USD/TRY rate of around 3.60 at the end of September 2017.