The Turkish lira has dropped to an all-time low after a diplomatic row which saw the US double steel and aluminium tariffs against the country. This has sparked fears that Turkey is sliding into a full-blown financial crisis, prompting the central bank to announced that it ‘will provide all the liquidity the banks need’.
Back in May Moody’s said the outlook for Turkey’s banking system was negative due to risks relating to slowing economic growth, ineffective monetary policy, currency depreciation and high unemployment.
Yet throughout 2017 the country’s five biggest lenders performed well, increasing profits and capital.
State-owned TC Ziraat Bankasi is Turkey’s biggest home-grown lender with $12.7bn in Tier 1 capital at end-2017. It is closely followed by Turkiye Is Bankasi which is listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange and holds $11.9bn in Tier 1 capital.
Another privately-owned lender, Akbank, ranks third with $10.6bn in Tier 1. Trailing someway behind are Turkiye Halk Bankasi and VakifBank with Tier 1 equal to $6.6bn and $6.1bn, respectively.
All data sourced from www.thebankerdatabase.com
