State lenders Ziraat, Halkbank dismiss claims of making loss

ISTANBUL

State-owned banks Ziraat and Halkbank have each issued statements denying allegations that they incurred losses during the recent period.

Ziraat noted that its finances are regularly disclosed to the public.

“These financials show that our bank has not incurred any losses due to its operations and that it is among the banks that make profits at levels in line with [banking] industry norms,” the lender said.

Founded in 1863, Ziraat is Türkiye’s largest bank by asset, which stood at 4 trillion Turkish Liras as of the end of March, according to data from the Banks’ Association of Türkiye (TBB).

It reported a net income of 17.4 billion liras for the period. It has 1,800 branches and nearly 26,000 employees.

Halkbank also issued a statement in response to claims circulating on some social media platforms and media outlets.

The state-owned lender stressed that the financial data shared with the public clearly showed that Halkbank has always posted profits.

“Our bank ranks third among the banks in the sector in terms of total balance sheet size and second in terms of total lira loans. [Halbank] ranks sixth in the sector in terms of operating expenses, including advertising expenses,” the lender said in the statement.

Halkbank was the fourth largest lender in Türkiye by asset, standing at 2.4 trillion liras, as of the end of March, with its profit at 4.8 billion liras, according to TBB.

Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, claimed that Ziraat and Halkbank posted a net loss of 42 billion in six months. He also claimed that the two banks have spent 6 billion liras on advertising in the last three years.