Turkish banking sector grows 12.6 pct in year

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The President of Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), Mükim Öztekin shares the Turkish banking sector data for last year in the meeting of Economy Journalists’ Association in Ankara. AA photo

The Turkish banking sector expanded by 12.6 percent last year, as the size of total assets reached 1.3 billion Turkish Liras, mostly due to the growth rate in the second term of the year, Mükim Öztekin, the president of Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency announced yesterday. 

“Sector growth, which was 4.6 in the first half of the year, jumped by 7.6 in the second half due to a rehabilitation in the risk perception of Turkey, the acceleration of capital inflow and the decreasing interest rates, as well as the surging economic growth trend,” Öztekin said during his speech at a meeting of the Economy Journalists’ Association in Ankara.

Praising the outlook of the sector over the last year, he said that while the traditional strengths of the sector were surging at a higher rate, the problematic notions had also been getting better.

The sector earned 23.6 million liras in net profits last year, a 19.2 percent rise on the previous year.
Some 37 of the 49 banks operating in the local sector increased their profits last year, as their interest income surged by 21.7 billion liras while their interest expenses increased by 8.8 billion liras. “Net profit for the period has surged by 3.8 billion liras compared to the same period of the previous year, due to the increase in the net interest margin. This is despite the retreat of the non-interest income-expense balance,” Öztekin added.

The strong of outlook is mainly prompted by the increase in equity capitals, he said. The banking sector’s equities increased by 26 percent to 182 billion liras, surpassing the growth rate of the sector assets in general.

‘Banks get less loans from European banks’

Another indicator of the sector’s boost is the increasing accountability of Turkish banks in the global sector, which is proved by the increasing amount of global funds that local banks have generated. While the global loans that the Turkish banking sector obtained increased by $13.3 billion last year, the variety of the loaning countries also changed. 

“In 2010, Turkish banks raised almost 50 percent of their funds from European banks, while in 2012 this plummeted to around 35 percent. During the same period, shares in the Gulf countries’, Japanese and Swiss banks rose,” Öztekin said. 

He also shared his reflections on the projections for the sector for 2013, saying that an increase in the size of assets of around 16 percent was expected, while the net interest margin and equity capitals were expected to remain steady at 2012 levels.