Turkish banking sector profit down 12 percent in first quarter

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Turkish banking sector’s net profit totaled some 12.35 billion Turkish Liras ($2.2 billion) in the first quarter of 2019, the country’s banking watchdog, BDDK, has reported.

This was 12 percent lower than the 14 billion liras of profit the local banks posted in the same quarter of 2018.

According to data from BDDK, total assets of the sector rose by 22.6 percent on a yearly basis to reach 4.14 trillion liras.

Amounting to some 2.52 trillion liras in loans - the biggest subcategory of assets - surged 14.6 percent year-on-year.

Banks’ interest income soared 40 percent from a year ago to hit 103 billion liras in the first quarter. Interest revenues from loans stood at 79.3 billion liras.

Local lenders’ interest expenses were at 68.45 billion thus, the banking sector’s net interest income increased by 10 percent on an annual basis to 34.6 billion liras.

Interest payments to deposits grew by 72 percent in the first three months of the year from a year earlier to stand at 47.5 billion liras.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkey were 2.21 trillion liras in the three-month period, marking an annual hike of 24.2 percent.

In March alone, the banking sector’s profit stood at 5.87 billion liras, pointing to a 4.3 percent increase on an annual basis.