Turkish banks post $2.8B net profit in February

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – Turkiye’s banks registered a net profit of 39 billion Turkish liras ($2.8 billion) in February, the country’s banking watchdog said on Tuesday.

Total assets of the Turkish banking sector hit 9.5 trillion Turkish liras ($687.4 billion) last month, up 55% from February 2021, according to latest data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA).

Loans, the largest sub-category of assets, were around 5.2 trillion Turkish liras ($375 billion) with a 44% year-on-year rise.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkiye – the largest liabilities item – totaled over 5.5 trillion Turkish liras ($402 billion), up 60% from a year ago.

Pointing to lenders’ minimum capital requirements, the banking sector’s regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio – the higher the better – was 19.05% by the end of this February, up from 18.17% last February.

The ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans – the lower the better – was 3.02%, dropping from 4.02% in February 2021.

As of the end of February, a total of 54 state/private/foreign lenders – including deposit banks, participation banks, development and investment banks – were operating in Turkiye.

The sector had 201,552 employees serving through 11,040 branches both in Turkiye and abroad, along with 48,852 ATMs.