Merrill downgrades Turkish banks

Bloomberg

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Akbank, the country's biggest lender by market value, and Yapı Kredi were cut to “underperform,” Merrill analyst Ecem Nalbantgil said in a note to investors Friday.

Average loan growth for the industry is likely to fall to 29 percent this year and 14 percent in 2009 from 44 percent over the previous five years, the analyst said.

Akbank on Thursday said net income declined from a year earlier as loan growth slowed.

Akbank had a profit of YTL 348 million ($227 million) in the period.