Turkish banking sector posts $5.72B net profits in March

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Net profits of Türkiye's banking sector in March totaled 216.11 billion Turkish liras ($5.72 billion), the country's banking watchdog said Friday.

The sector's net profits climbed 35% compared to the same month last year, according to data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

Total assets of the sector were 36.13 trillion liras ($957.78 billion) at the end of March. Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, totaled 17.63 trillion liras ($467.35 billion).

Deposits, the largest liabilities item, totaled 21.14 trillion Turkish liras ($560.78 billion).

Pointing to lenders' minimum capital requirements, the banking sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio -- the higher the better -- was at 17.63 by the end of March.

The ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans, the lower the better, stood at 1.93%.

As of end-March, 63 state/private/foreign lenders. including deposit banks, participation banks and development and investment banks, operated in the Turkish banking sector.

The sector had 210,037 employees serving at 10,849 branches in Türkiye and overseas.