Banks’ four-month profits soar 370 percent

ANKARA

The combined net income of banks operating in Turkey increased by 374 percent in January-April from a year ago to stand at 98.2 billion Turkish Liras, data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) showed.

Assets of lenders grew by 1.1 trillion liras – or 12.6 percent - compared with the end of 2021 to 10.4 trillion liras.

Loans extended by banks, which stood at 3.8 trillion liras a year ago, also increased by 15.2 percent from end-2021 to amount to 5.7 trillion liras as of end-April. Loans constitute the largest item of the banking industry’s assets.

Deposits, the biggest fund resource of banks, rose by 15.6 percent compared with the end of 2021 to 6.13 trillion liras.

Total interest income banks generated from loans grew by 60 percent on an annual basis to 201 billion liras, with interest revenues from consumer loans increasing by 42 percent year-on-year to 40.8 billion liras.

The non-performing loans/total loans ratio improved from 3.74 percent last year to 2.75 percent as of end-April, while the capital adequacy ratio climbed from 18 percent to 20.4 percent.

Local banks boosted their securities portfolio by 18.5 percent compared with end-2021 to 1.75 trillion.

Total shareholders’ equity rose by 34 percent over the same period to 957 billion liras.

There were 55 banks operating in Turkey as of end-April, up from 52 a year ago. The total number of branches in the country declined slightly from 11,105 to 11,027. Banks also reduced their headcounts from 202,051 to 200,968. The number of ATMs increased from 48,732 to 48,788.