Lenders’ profits hit $5.5 billion

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s banking sector registered a net profit of 42.95 billion Turkish Liras ($5.5 billion) in January-August, the country’s banking watchdog, BDDK, has said.

Total assets of local banks stood at 5.85 trillion liras as of end-August, growing more than 30 percent or by 1.4 trillion liras compared with the end of 2019, data from BDDK showed on Sept. 29.

Loans - the largest subcategory of assets - extended by local lenders exhibited a strong 31.1 percent increase in the first eight months of the year from end-2019 to climb to 3.45 trillion.

Lenders’ interest income collected from loans amounted to 199 billion liras, down from 219 billion liras a year earlier.

The non-performing loans/total loans ratio — the lower the better — across the banking industry stood at 4.14 percent as of end-August, versus 4.64 percent a year ago.

The capital adequacy ratio in the sector was 19.28 percent, according to the latest official data.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in the country amounted to 3.3 trillion liras, jumping more than 29 percent compared with end-2019.

The combined net income of local banks was 49 billion liras in 2019, falling from the net profit of 54 billion liras in the previous year.