Turkish banks post $8.4 billion profit in 2020

ISTANBUL

The combined net profit of Turkish banks amounted to 59.97 billion Turkish Liras (around $8.4 billion) in 2020, up from the previous year’s net income of 49 billion liras, the country’s banking watchdog (BDDK) has said.

Total assets of the banking industry sector exhibited a robust 36 percent increase in 2020 from 2019 to stand at 6.1 trillion liras while loans extended by lenders, the biggest sub-category of assets, grew nearly 35 percent in the year to hit some 3.6 trillion liras.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at local lenders, the largest liabilities item, amounted to 3.45 trillion liras in 2020, up by some 35 percent compared to the previous year.

The capital adequacy ratio, the higher the better, across the banking industry was 18.76 percent, rising slightly from 18.4 percent in 2019.

The ratio of non-performing loans (NPL) to total cash loans, the lower the better, improved from 5.36 percent in 2019 to 4.07 percent last year, data also showed.

Turkey’s banking association TBB announced last week that lenders meeting certain criteria would be allowed to distribute 10 percent of their profits in 2020.

The payment of dividends was not allowed in 2018 or 2019.

There are 51 lenders, including deposit banks, participation banks, and development and investment banks in Turkey.

The sector has more than 204,000 employees, serving through over 11,000 branches both in Turkey and overseas.