Turkey's banking sector posts $8.4B net profit in 2019

ANKARA

The net profit of Turkey's banking sector totaled 49.8 billion Turkish liras ($8.38 billion) in 2019, the country's banking watchdog announced Thursday.

The banking sector's net profit was down 7% last year, compared with 53.52 billion Turkish liras ($10.16 billion) in 2018, according to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA).

Total assets of the sector surged 16.2% year-on-year to 4.49 trillion liras ($758.1 billion) as of end-2019.

Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, amounted to 2.66 trillion liras ($448.5 billion), a rise of 11% on an annual basis.

Deposits held at lenders in Turkey -- the largest liabilities