ANKARA
Turkey’s state-run Halkbank on Monday declared a 10 percent net profit increase for the first quarter of 2015.
The bank said first quarter profits rose to 583.6 million Turkish lira ($218 million). The same period last year saw the bank record 530.4 million lira profits.
In a statement, Halbank CEO Ali Fuat Taskesenlioglu said the Turkish economy had been adversely affected by the global recession but that European quantitative easing, a low euro and the recovery of EU economies would help Turkish growth.
Tasekenlioglu added that Halkbank has already signed a share purchase agreement with Serbia bank, Cacanska Banka, for a 76.76 percent stake.
Last month, it was reported that Halkbank would pay 10 million euros ($10.7 million) for the Serbian bank, which has assets of $263 million euros.
“It will boost trade between Serbia and Turkey,” Taskesenlioglu said. “We will continue to grow in the Balkans.”
Halkbank is the second largest state lender after Ziraat Bank, with 900 branches and 19,000 employees.
In 2014, the bank’s assets were valued at more than 150 billion lira and its net profit reached 2.2 billion lira.
Nearly half of Halkbank’s shares are traded on Turkey’s main stock exchange, the Borsa Istanbul.
