UPDATE - Turkey: Banking sector net profits hit $1.2B in Jan-Feb

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, REVISED HEADLINE, DECK

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish banking sector's net profits totaled some 6.48 billion Turkish liras ($1.22 billion) this January-February, the country's banking regulator said Friday.

According to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, total assets of the sector surged 19.4 percent year-on-year to reach 3.93 trillion liras ($743 billion).

Amounting to some 2.42 trillion liras ($457 billion), loans -- the biggest sub-category of assets -- rose 12.9 percent on a yearly basis.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkey totaled 2.09 trillion Turkish liras ($396 billion) in the two-month period, an annual rise of 20.1 percent.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira (USD/TRY) exchange rate was around 5.30 at the end of this February, versus 3.79 at the end of the same month in 2018.

The banking sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio -- the higher the better -- was 17.01 percent in February, compared with 16.70 percent a year ago.

Measuring the health of loans, the ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans -- the lower the better -- was 4.11 percent in February, versus 2.92 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 February.

The sector had some 206,500 employees, doing business at 11,500 branches both in Turkey and abroad with over 48,500 ATMs.

Last year, the Turkish banking sector's net profit totaled 53.5 billion Turkish liras ($10.6 billion) -- up 10 percent annually.