'Turkish participation banking to grow 30 pct in 2019'

By Murat Birinci

ISTANBUL

Turkey's participation banking sector will grow over 30 percent in 2019, according to the head of the Participation Banks Association of Turkey.

Last year participation banks' assets ballooned 29 percent, which is an important rate for the sector, Osman Akyuz told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

"We have 16 billion liras [$3 billion] equity, and we have no liquidity problems," Akyuz said.

He added: "Both our government and regulators took important decisions with a proactive approach, and we believe 2019 will be better still."

There are significant developments in Turkey such as solving the real sector's problems, lowering foreign exchange to a reasonable level, bringing down inflation, and reducing the current deficit, he underlined.

Akyuz said: "This year will be more productive for Turkey economically."

He also said participation banks' share of the Turkish banking sector is around 5 percent but they want to raise it 15 percent.

Three private and two state-run participation banks -- Kuveyt Turk, Albaraka, Turkiye Finans, Ziraat, and Vakif -- are active in Turkey, with over 1,100 branches and 15,650 employees.

As of end of 2018 their net profit was $403 million and assets were $39.2 billion, according to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency.

* Gokhan Ergocun contributed to this story from Istanbul