ISTANBUL

Net profits of Türkiye's banking sector in September totaled 669.7 billion Turkish liras ($16.16 billion), the banking authority said Thursday.

The sector's net profits climbed 19% compared to the same month last year, according to data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

Total assets of the sector reached 43.5 trillion liras ($1.05 trillion) at the end of September. Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, totaled 21.2 trillion liras ($512.7 billion).

Deposits, the largest liabilities item, totaled 24.8 trillion Turkish liras ($600 billion).

Pointing to lenders' minimum capital requirements, the banking sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio – the higher the better – rose to 18.55% by the end of September.

The ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans, the lower the better, stood at 2.29%.

As of end-September, 66 state/private/foreign lenders, including deposit banks, participation banks and development and investment banks, operated in the Turkish banking sector.

The sector had 210,102 employees serving at 10,781 branches in Türkiye and overseas.