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Dear Shareholders, Business Partners
and Employees,
In 2013, even though vulnerabilities
still exist, global economic activity has
started to revive slightly; especially,
recovery in developed countries drew
attention. Increasing growth rates were
recorded in developed economies
whereas in the Euro Zone, contraction,
which was ongoing for a while, has
generally been replaced by a recovery
since the second quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, growth in developing
countries displayed a slowdown due to
both structural and cyclical reasons. The
capital movements followed by the signs
of the US Federal Reserve Bank (FED)
that it will stop monetary expansion
adversely influenced these economies
and caused the vulnerabilities stemming
from their loose monetary, fiscal and
credit policies to appear.
The Turkish economy kept its
development momentum in 2013
as well. During the second quarter
of the year, an upgrade in Turkey’s
credit rating to investment grade once
more confirmed the improvements
in the fields of economy and fiscal
management. However, starting from
the second half of the year, decrease
in short-term capital inflows caused
an increase in interest rates and
depreciation of the Turkish lira. On
the other hand, inflation and current
account deficit, which was partly
reduced through contractionary
monetary policies of the Central Bank
began in 2012, tended to rise again. In
consideration of these circumstances, it
will not be without reason to expect that
in 2014, the Turkish economy will face
a more vulnerable period compared to
the previous years.
Despite the fall in profitability and
margins, Turkish banking sector
maintained its growth in 2013. Annual
growth of the sector’s balance sheet
was 26.4%whereas increase in loans,
an indicator of the support provided to
Turkey’s economic growth, continued
as well. Total loans volume and deposits
increased by 31.8% and 22.5%,
respectively, compared to the previous
year. Net profit for the period rose by
5.1% and return on equity realized
at 14.2%. In the meantime, global
economic fluctuations caused increase
in the costs of deposits and resources of
the banking sector and thus narrowed
net interest margins. Still, it is apparent
that the banking industry will remain
to be driving force of the country’s
economy by virtue of its asset quality,
solid equity structure and high level of
capital adequacy ratio.
Message from the General Manager
In 2013, owing to our efforts primarily to improve
technological infrastructure in addition to the new
products and distribution channels we offered, we took
significant steps in line with the target of increasing our
service quality and being an efficient and a dynamic bank.
increasing
service
quality