UPDATE - Turkey: Banking sector net profit hits $8.3B in Jan-Oct

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's banking sector's net profit totaled nearly 45.9 billion Turkish liras ($8.3 billion) in the January-October period, the country's banking watchdog reported on Thursday.

The banking sector's 10-month net profit climbed 11.5 percent annually, up from 41.2 billion liras ($10.9 billion) over the same period in 2017, according to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

The banking sector's total assets amounted to 3.99 trillion liras ($720.2 billion) as of Oct. 31 this year, surging 25.9 percent on a yearly basis.

As the biggest sub-category of assets, loans rose by 20.4 percent to reach 2.46 trillion liras ($444.5 billion) in the same period.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkey were 2.06 trillion Turkish liras ($372 billion), showing an annual hike of 22.2 percent.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was around 5.50 as of Oct. 31 this year, while the USD/TRY rate was around 3.78 at the end of the same month last year.

The banking sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio -- the higher the better -- was 18.19 percent last month, compared with 16.88 percent a year ago.

Measuring the healthiness of given loans, the ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans -- the lower the better -- was 3.47 percent in October, versus 3.01 percent in the same month last year.

A total of 50 state/private/foreign lenders -- including deposit banks, participation banks, and development and investment banks -- conducted banking activities in Turkey as of October.

The sector had around 208,000 employees, serving through nearly 11,600 branches both in Turkey and overseas locations with 48,458 ATMs.

Last year, the Turkish banking sector's net profit hit an all-time high, reaching around 49 billion Turkish liras ($13 billion) -- a yearly increase of 30.8 percent.