Turkish banking sector able to keep positive outlook

Banking sector in Turkey is able to maintain its positive outlook with properly managing risks caused by mainly international developments, said the country's banking association on Wednesday.

"Banking sector has structure and power that would assist to maintain economic growth in healthy way and it is fully compliant with international regulation and supervision measures," the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB) said in a statement.

The association's comments came after a report from credit rating agency Moody's on Tuesday said that the outlook for the Turkish banking system is negative due to downside risks related to funding and asset quality.

The TBB stated that the sector has good international basic indicators, such as regulatory capital to risk weighted assets ratio, assets quality, good quality guarantee structure, liquidity and profitability level, and management experiences.

It noted that the banking sector's regulatory capital to risk weighted assets ratio -- a significant indicator to figure out minimum capital requirements of lenders -- was at 16.6 percent in the first quarter of 2018.

The ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans -- another crucial indicator that shows how healthy the banking sector is -- was lower compared to other countries, standing at 2.90 percent as of March this year, it said.