Lower profits may increase banks’ fees

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Banks could start charging on online services soon, BDDK chair Bilgin says. Hürriyet photo

Banks in Turkey may be forced to resort to different measures to increase revenues because the sector’s profits are expected to decrease in the coming period, according to the head of Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

The measures could include charging higher fees for Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) services and wire money transfers, Tevfik Bilgin said in a presentation to Parliament’s Planning and Budget Commission, according to a daily Vatan report yesterday. Banks could even begin charging for online banking, which is usually a free service, Bilgin said.

The Turkish banking sector’s profits will total approximately 20 billion Turkish Liras by the end of the year, Bilgin said.

The banking sector’s profits amounted to 20.1 billion liras in 2010