Turkish bank profits soar in first half

ANKARA (AA) – The profits of 10 Turkish lenders traded on Borsa Istanbul rose 43 percent in the first half of the year over the same period last year, according to the country’s banking association.

The deposit banks traded on the country's main stock exchange posted 12.8 billion Turkish liras ($4.35 billion) in net profits in the first half of 2016, up from 8.94 billion liras in 2015, the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB) said Friday.

The association also said the Turkish lenders' total assets rose 11 percent to 1.632 trillion liras ($556 billion) through June compared to the first half of 2015.

The association noted that loans, which make up the lion’s share of the lenders’ operations, reached 1.062 trillion Turkish lira ($361 billion) in the first six months.