Banking sector’s profit leap 400 percent

ISTANBUL

The combined net profit of Turkish banks soared by 408 percent in the January-October period from a year ago to 336 billion Turkish Liras ($18 billion), data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) have shown.

Interest income from loans grew 83 percent year-on-year to 640 billion liras, with net interest income of lenders rising 210 percent in the first ten months of the year to 573 billion.

Total assets of the banking industry increased by 46 percent or by 4.2 billion liras compared with the end of 2021 to stand at 13.45 trillion liras as of end-October.

Loans extended by lenders grew 43.5 percent over the same period to 7 trillion liras. The share of non-performing loans (NPL) in total loans was 2.23 percent at the end of October, improving from 3.5 percent in the same month of last year.

Banks’ securities portfolio increased by 50.2 percent to 2.2 trillion.

“Deposits, the biggest fund resource of the banks, increased by 57.4 percent from the end of 2021, 8.35 trillion liras,” the BDDK said in a statement.

The total shareholders’ equity increased by 77.3 percent to 1.27 trillion liras, while the capital adequacy standard ratio rose from 17 percent in October 2021 to 19.23 percent.

There was a total of 55 banks operating in Türkiye as of October, up from 53 a year ago, while the number of employees in the banking industry increased from around 201,000 to 204,840. Local banks reduced the number of branches from 11,071 to 10,990.