Ziraat Bank announces 2011 profits

AnKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey’s state-run Ziraat Bank posted 2.1 billion Turkish Liras in net profits in 2011, Director General Hüseyin Aydın said yesterday.

Aydın said yesterday that the bank’s total assets rose six percent to 161 billion liras in 2011 when compared to 2010.

“With our new turn around project, we expect to make Ziraat even more competitive in the near future,” said Aydın. He explained that the turn around project would allow the bank to better service customers making it an upper tier bank.

Aydın said that in the second half of 2011, they were able to see a slight improvement in equity capital, but that greater strides would be needed in this regard.

He noted that Ziraat Bankası had 1,434 branches in Turkey and 78 offices in 17 countries as well as more than 24,000 personnel as of the end of 2011. Ziraat hopes to be a global player, he added stressing that the bank would put in place growth policies and strategies to achieve this goal.