Banking sector’s profits up 47 percent

ISTANBUL

The combined net profit of Turkish banks increased by 47.4 percent in January-April, climbing to 144.7 billion Turkish Liras.

Total assets of the banking sector rose to 16.4 trillion liras, exhibiting a 14.2 percent increase from the end of 2022, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) said.

The volume of loans banks provided amounted to 8.9 trillion liras, rising nearly 18 percent in the same period, while banks’ securities portfolio grew 17 percent to stand at 2.78 trillion liras.

Banks’ interest income from loans was up 74 percent year-on-year, with interest collected from consumer credit rising 76 percent.

The industry’s net interest income was 189.7 billion liras, up from 162.4 billion liras in the first four months of 2022.

The share of non-performing loans in total loans stood at 1.86 percent as of end-April, declining from 2.75 percent a year earlier.

“Deposits, the biggest fund resource of the banks, increased by 16.8 percent compared to the previous year-end to 10.35 trillion liras,” BDDK said.

The total shareholders’ equity rose 11.4 percent to 1.6 trillion liras compared to the end of 2022.

The industry’s capital adequacy ratio declined from 20 percent from April last year to 16.8 percent.

There were 54 banks operating in Türkiye as of April, while the total number of branches dropped from 11,027 to 10,979.

Banks boosted their employment from around 201,000 to 206,151, while their ATM network shrank slightly from 48,788 to 48,751.