UPDATE – Turkey: Banking sector net profits hit $1.2B in Jan-Feb

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, REVISED HEADLINE, DECK</p> <p>By Muhammed Ali Gurtas</p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish banking sector's net profits totaled some 6.48 billion Turkish liras ($1.22 billion) this January-February, the country's banking regulator said Friday.</p> <p>According to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, total assets of the sector surged 19.4 percent year-on-year to reach 3.93 trillion liras ($743 billion).</p> <p>Amounting to some 2.42 trillion liras ($457 billion), loans — the biggest sub-category of assets — rose 12.9 percent on a yearly basis. </p> <p>On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkey totaled 2.09 trillion Turkish liras ($396 billion) in the two-month period, an annual rise of 20.1 percent. </p> <p>The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira (USD/TRY) exchange rate was around 5.30 at the end of this February, versus 3.79 at the end of the same month in 2018.</p> <p>The banking sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio — the higher the better — was 17.01 percent in February, compared with 16.70 percent a year ago.</p> <p>Measuring the health of loans, the ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans — the lower the better — was 4.11 percent in February, versus 2.92 percent in the same month last year.</p> <p>A total of 50 state/private/foreign lenders — including deposit banks, participation banks, and development and investment banks — conducted banking activities in Turkey as of February. </p> <p>The sector had some 206,500 employees, doing business at 11,500 branches both in Turkey and abroad with over 48,500 ATMs.</p> <p>Last year, the Turkish banking sector's net profit totaled 53.5 billion Turkish liras ($10.6 billion) — up 10 percent annually.</p> <p>