Banking sector net profit at $7.24B in Jan-Oct

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

The net profit of Turkey's banking sector totaled 41.3 billion Turkish liras ($7.24 billion) in January-October, the country's banking watchdog said on Nov. 29.

The figure was down 10 percent on an annual basis in the first ten months of this year, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) data showed.

Total assets of the sector amounted to 4.3 trillion Turkish liras ($758.97 billion), rising by 8.3 percent over the same period last year.

Banking sector's total loans -- the biggest sub-category of assets -- increased by 4 percent year-on-year to hit 2.56 trillion Turkish liras ($450.3 billion) in the January-October period.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in the country amounted to 2.4 trillion Turkish liras ($425.5 billion), up 16.5 percent during the same period.

The data showed that the sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio -- the higher the better -- was 18.48 percent in October this year versus 18.19 percent in October 2018.

Measuring the health of loans, the ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans -- the lower the better -- stood at 5.15 percent last month, increasing from 3.47 percent in October last year.

A total of 51 state/private/foreign lenders -- including deposit banks, participation banks, and development and investment banks -- conducted banking activities in Turkey as of October.