Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 16
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
One of Turkey's largest state-owned banks, Ziraat Bankası, received permission of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) to consolidate its subsidiaries' assets, Resmi Gazete newspaper said Oct. 15.
Reportedly, the bank will consolidate its assets with companies Ziraat Sigorta, Ziraat Hayat ve Emeklilik, Ziraat Yatırım Menkul Degerler and Ziraat Teknoloji.
Following the consolidation, the investment portfolio of the unified structure will be $300 million throughout Turkey.
Ziraat Bankasi, or the Agricultural Bank of Turkey, was founded in 1888.
Among Turkey's financial institutions, the Ziraat Bankasi is the second largest bank, after the Is Bankasi. The bank has 1,280 branches in the country and over 22,800 employees.
The profit of the Ziraat Bankası in 2013 rose by 37 percent versus the same period of 2012, standing at 2 billion Turkish liras (TRY).
The bank's assets in 2013 amounted to 195.8 billion TRY.
The bank's loan portfolio last year stood at 83.8 billion TRY versus 64 billion TRY, and in Q1 2014 the figure rose to 115 billion TRY.
Ziraat Bankasi intends to open 150 more branches in Turkey. The bank also has subsidiaries in Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The bank has offices in UK, US, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iraq, North Cyprus, Greece, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The official exchange rate for Oct. 16 is 2.2737 TRY/USD.
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