Türkiye's banks post $13.9B net profit in August

Turkish banks posted a net profit of 252 billion Turkish liras ($13.9 billion) in August, fivefold on a lira basis compared to a year ago, according to data from the country's banking watchdog on Thursday.

Total assets of the Turkish banking sector amounted to 12.7 trillion Turkish liras ($700.7 billion) last month, rising from 6.9 trillion Turkish liras ($819.3 billion) in August 2021, according to data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency.

Loans, the largest sub-category of assets, reached 6.7 trillion Turkish liras ($367.6 billion), while it was 3.9 trillion Turkish liras ($471.2 billion) a year ago.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Türkiye-the largest liabilities item-totaled 7.74 trillion Turkish liras ($427.2 billion), up from 3.9 trillion Turkish liras ($471.6 billion) in August last year.

The sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio-the higher the better-stood at 18.69% at the end of last month, up from 17.26% in August 2021.

The ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans-the lower the better-was 2.38%, down from 3.67% a year ago.

As of end-August, a total of 55 state/private/foreign lenders-including deposit banks, participation banks, and development and investment banks-were operating in Türkiye.

The sector had over 204,500 employees working at some 11,100 branches both in Türkiye and abroad, along with nearly 49,000 ATMs.