Net profit of Turkish banking sector jumps in January

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkiye’s banking sector posted a net profit of 20.09 billion Turkish liras ($1.5 billion) in the first month of 2022, the country’s banking watchdog said on Tuesday.

The sector’s net profit was up 369% compared with 4.3 billion Turkish liras ($585 million) in the same month last year, according to data by Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency.

Total assets of the sector rose 52.65% year-on-year to 9.22 trillion Turkish liras ($689.2 billion) as of the end of January, the report showed.

Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, were 4.96 trillion Turkish liras ($371.27 billion), up 39.7% compared with the same period of the last year.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkiye – the largest liabilities item – totaled nearly 5.38 trillion Turkish liras ($402.37 billion), up some %57.4 year-on-year.

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 13.63 at the end of January 2022 and 7.39 at the end of January 2021, according to the Turkish Central Bank data.

A total of 53 state/private/foreign lenders – including deposit, participation, and development and investment banks – conducted banking activities in Turkiye as of January.

The sector had 201,857 employees, serving through 11,108 branches both in Turkiye and overseas.