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A&T BANK ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Dear Shareholders,
In 2014, the global economic recovery
was limited and growth rates varied
significantly across countries. While
the economies of the Euro Zone and
Japan remained weak and vulnerable,
China’s economic growth slipped to its
lowest level since 1990. Meanwhile,
a rebound was observed in the US
economy; however, the Fed’s move
to end its expansionary monetary
policy led to fluctuations in the global
economic environment and had a
negative impact on emerging markets
in particular. As worldwide growth has
lagged expectations, commodity prices
have dropped significantly, and serious
concerns have arisen about the future
of consumer spending, while the risk of
deflation globally has escalated.
The monetary policies adopted by
central banks in the most industrialized
countries, and primarily the Fed,
continued to be one of the main
determinant of economic growth in
emerging markets, including Turkey.
The Turkish economy expanded 4.1%
in 2013, while the growth rate remained
at 2.8% in the first nine months of
2014. Due to the declining foreign
trade deficit, Turkey’s current account
gap narrowed from 7.9% of GDP in
2013 to 5.7% in 2014. Meanwhile, the
annual increase in the Consumer Price
Index went up to 9.66% during the year
but entered the downward trend with
the last quarter and stood at 8.17% at
end-2014. Slowing economic growth,
the rising deflation risk in key export
markets, and elevated political tension
in the region are all expected to impact
Turkey’s economic performance in
2015.
In the banking industry, a number of
factors including an increase in funding
costs due to rising interest rates in
the first quarter of the year, a rise in
operating expenses, and a slowdown
in credit growth because of recent
regulatory changes dampened overall
industry profitability in 2014. Despite
15.1% growth in total assets, net profit
realized TL 24.7 billion, same as the
previous year. Meanwhile, sector’s
return on equity fell from 14.2% at
year-end 2013 to 12.2% at year-end
2014.
Despite the fluctuations in the economic
environment and the current negative
geopolitical situation, A&T Bank
achieved its financial targets in 2014
thanks to a strong capital structure.
As of year’s end, our Bank’s total
assets had grown by 10.9%, climbing
to TL 3.7 billion. Our net profit
for the period increased 42.2% to
TL 70.5 million, while return on equity
rose to 15.3%, up from 12.0% a year
earlier. In line with our goal of achieving
solid and sustainable growth, we
successfully posted compound annual
growth rate of 34% in total assets, 29%
in cash loans, 15% in shareholders’
equity and 31% in net profit, during the
period 2010-2014.
In accordance with its long-term
strategic plans, A&T Bank has
especially made extensive changes
to its technological and organizational
structure and continued on its
preparations to achieve more ambitious
goals in the coming period. Thanks to
our meticulous and comprehensive
efforts, we launched our Internet
Banking services in 2014, which was
a significant step forward in fulfilling
our promise to offer customers every
possible delivery channel they might
need.
Message from the Chairman
Especially thanks to extensive changes in our
technological and organizational structure, we
continued on preparing to achieve even more
ambitious goals in the coming period.