Banking industry’s net income increased 6 percent last year
ISTANBUL
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Turkish banks’ combined net income increased by 6.2 percent in 2024 from the previous year to 659 billion Turkish Liras ($18.77 billion).
Total assets of the sector were 32.67 trillion liras as of the end of December, soaring 38.7 percent on a yearly basis, according to Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) data.
Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, totaled 16 trillion liras, rising 37.1 percent year-on-year.
Deposits held at lenders in Türkiye — the largest liabilities item — totaled 18.9 trillion liras, jumping 27.3 percent from January to December the previous year.
Pointing to lenders' minimum capital requirements, the banking sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio — the higher the better — was 19.07 percent by end-2023, up from 19.69 percent in December 2024.
The ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans — the lower the better — stood at 1.78 percent in the same period, versus 1.6 percent a year ago.
As of end-2024, a total of 61 state/private/foreign lenders — including deposit banks, participation banks and development and investment banks — operated in the Turkish banking sector.
The sector had 208,7289 employees serving at 10,950 branches both in Türkiye and overseas.
A strong recovery in Turkish banking earnings is expected this year, now that the rate-cutting cycle is well underway, Citi said in a report earlier this week.
“We expect significant NIM [net interest margin] expansion this year driving an estimated 72 percent year-on-year growth in earnings this year and 30 percent next year for our coverage universe of Turkish banks, following an anticipated 28 percent aggregate decline in earnings in 2024,” Citi said.