Turkish banks' profits surge in first half of 2017

The profits of nine top Turkish lenders traded on Borsa Istanbul rose by 32.9 percent in the first half of the year from the same period in 2016, according to data from the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP).      

The deposit banks, traded on the country's main stock exchange, boasted 16.96 billion Turkish Liras ($4.81 billion) in net profits in the first half of 2017, up from 12.8 billion liras ($3.63 billion) in the same period of 2016.      

The Turkish lenders' total assets rose over 9 percent to 1.96 trillion liras ($556.7 billion) through June compared to the first half of 2016.      

According to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), the net profits of the Turkish banking sector increased by 33.2 percent in the first half of this year to 25.35 billion liras ($7.19 billion) year-on-year.

In total, banks' profits reached 19.33 billion liras ($5.49 billion).