Gelisim News

Stating that receivables of the banks from the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey and the assets allocated as required reserves and kept with the Central Bank increased by approximately 100 billion TL, Asst. Prof. Dr. Lokman Kantar, Head of the Banking and Insurance Department of Istanbul Gelisim University, said: “During the Pandemic period, the amount of loans extended in the banking sector increased by 1 trillion TL and parallel to this, non-performing loans increased by approximately 7 billion TL.

Stating that the expected loss provisions during the pandemic period increased by approximately 50 billion TL, Kantar said: “The banking sector obtained 1 trillion TL more deposits during the pandemic period and issued approximately 50 billion TL of securities for the resources it needed. In this period, when the off-balance sheet items of the banking sector are analyzed, approximately 900 billion TL of additional derivative products were used in order to prevent interest and exchange rate risks.”
 
“BANKS RECEIVED 11 BILLION TL PROFIT”
 
Speaking about the profitability of the banking sector in the pandemic, Kantar said: “Despite the decrease in the interest from loans, the banking sector has made approximately 11 billion TL more net profit in this period as there is a further decrease in the interest paid on deposits. Again in this period, foreign exchange losses increased by approximately 7 billion TL due to the increasing exchange rates.”

“NUMBER OF BRANCHES DECREASED”

When other developments in the banking sector are examined, Kantar stated that the number of domestic branches decreased from 11,361 to 11,160 (201) due to home working, and added: “In parallel with this decreasing branch numbers, the number of domestic personnel decreased from 203 thousand 475 to 201 thousand 063 (2412 persons).”