İş Bank secures over $1 bln syndicated loan

ISTANBUL

İş Bank, one Turkey’s largest private lenders, has said it signed a syndicated loan agreement in the amount of 644.9 million euros (some $ 722 million) and $323.5 million with a maturity of 367 days.

“The all-in cost for the highest participation level of each tranche is Euribor+2.40 percent and Libor+2.50 percent, respectively,” the lender detailed in a filing with stock exchange.

The proceeds of the facility will be used for trade finance purposes, it added.

İş Bank is the country’s second largest lender in terms of asset size after state-owned Ziraat.

According to the first quarter financials of the bank, İş Bank’s total assets stood at 426 billion Turkish Liras ($70 billion) as of end-March, up from 416.4 billion liras at the end of 2018.

Loans extended by the lender amounted to 271 billion liras versus 269 billion liras at end-2018 while deposits collected by the bank increased to 254 billion liras from 245 billion liras.

A presentation on the bank’s website shows that İş Bank captured the largest shares in Turkey’s loan and deposit markets with 10.6 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively.

The consolidated non-performing loans (NPL)/total loans ratio stood at 5.1 percent while bank only NPL ratio was 4.9 percent as of end-March.

According to information provided by the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB), İş Bank operated a network of 1,355 branches and had 24,570 personnel at the end of 2018.