Turkish participation banks' net profit up 52 pct in Q1

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's participation banks' net profit jumped 52.4 percent to reach 503 million Turkish liras ($127 million) in the first quarter of 2018, compared with the same period last year.

Five participation banks' total assets rose by 22.5 percent to reach 166.9 billion Turkish liras ($42.12 billion) during the January-March period, on a yearly basis, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency correspondent from Turkey's banking watchdog, and independent audit reports.

Their deposits also jumped by 28.2 percent to 110.5 billion Turkish liras ($27.9 billion) year-on-year in the same period.

Loans issued by five participation banks rose by 30.2 percent to reach 103.65 billion Turkish liras ($26.15 billion) during the first three months of 2018, on a yearly basis.

Among five banks, Kuveyt Turk saw the high net profit with 203.1 million Turkish liras ($53.2 million), up by 33 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of the current year.

While Albaraka's net profit reached 97.7 million Turkish liras ($25.6 million), Turkiye Finans recorded 91.4 million Turkish liras ($23.95 million) net profit.

State-run Ziraat and Vakif participation banks followed them with 68.7 billion ($18 million) and 54.5 billion Turkish liras ($14.3 million) net profit, repsectively.

Participation banks' regulatory capital to risk-weighted assets ratio -- a significant indicator to figure out minimum capital requirements of lenders -- was at 63.99 percent in March, up from 43.11 percent in March 2017.

The total number of five banks' domestic and international branches was 1,040, while they employ over 15,000 staff as of March.

Meanwhile, the Turkish banking sector -- including all type of lenders -- posted a 13.9-billion-Turkish lira ($3.54 billion) net profit, up 5.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018.

The total assets of Turkey's banking sector amounted to 3.37 trillion Turkish liras ($856 billion).