Page 28 - TURKRptFeb21

Restructured loans are thought to be recorded as under close monitoring but Turkish authorities do not provide data that is clear enough to show whether or not that is the case.
Banks are not obliged to inform the TBB about all debt restructurings and the figure given may not reflect the whole restructured amount, business daily Dunya noted.
According to the latest data from the banking watchdog BDDK, Turkish banks’ loan volume stood at TRY3.55 trillion as of January 7, with TRY151bn worth of NPLs and an NPL ratio of 4.25%.
Data from Elvan showed overall NPLs and loans under closing monitoring totalled TRY534bn, or 15.1% of total loans.
The figure is expected to extend into the 20%s in 2021 as Turkey’s loan volume has lately gone into decline.
The overall equity of the Turkish banking industry rose to TRY588bn at end- November from TRY573bn at end-October.
Fitch Ratings is considering Stage 2 loans (10.5% of sector loans at end- 3Q20) and restructured loans (45% of Stage 2 loans) when assessing asset quality, it said on December 10 in its 2021 outlook for Turkish banks.
The figures on problem loans do not include loans provided under the KGF or all restructured loans.
The latest financial stability report also showed that the outstanding loan volume under the KGF stood at TRY342.7bn at end-September.
Some TRY35.4bn of loans under the KGF should be repaid in Q4 and TRY128.5bn in 2021, according to the report.
On December 8, the KGF said it would provide TRY7.5bn worth of additional loans to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The local banking industry has found itself within a non-stop loan restructuring cycle since 2016.
According to the quarterly bank loans tendency survey conducted by the central bank, Turkish companies in Q3 mainly tended to take out loans to restructure outstanding loans (chart below).
The Turkish government has extended regulatory forbearance measures applying to ‘zombie companies’ until the end of 2021, local business daily Dunya reported on December 28.
Akbank took over The Les Ottomans Hotel and Palladium Atasehir shopping mall in Istanbul. Local media claimed it is also in talks to take over Marmara Forum shopping mall.
Akbank is also active in the telecommunications business through Turk Telekom. The telco was taken over by Akbank, Garanti Bank and Isbank in 2018 after the licence holder Oger Telecom defaulted on a $4.7bn loan.
Around 30 shopping malls in Turkey are at risk of being taken over by banks in the next three months due to outstanding investment loans amounting to $15bn, Huseyin Altas, head of the Turkish Council of Shopping Centres (AYD), told local business daily Dunya on January 14.
D’S Damat franchise deals ‘show Turkey’s hard-pressed mall operators becoming their own tenants’.
28 TURKEY Country Report February 2021 www.intellinews.com