By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's banking sector's net profit reached 42.2 billion Turkish liras ($7.06 billion) this January-September, the country's banking watchdog reported Tuesday.
The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) said the sector's nine-month net profit saw a 13.4-percent annual rise, up from 37.2 billion liras ($10.5 billion) over the same period last year.
As of September, the banking sector's total assets were 4.2 trillion liras ($705.2 billion), a climb of 55.4 percent year-on-year.
Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, grew 29.7 percent on a yearly basis to 2.6 trillion liras ($433.7 billion) at the end of September.
On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkey totaled 2.1 trillion liras ($358.2 billion), up 30.6 percent in the same period.
At the end of this September, one U.S. dollar was traded for some 6.10 Turkish liras, versus a USD/TRY rate of around 3.60 at the end of September 2017.
