Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Akbank, Turkey’s second-largest bank by market value, reported first-quarter results that beat analyst estimates, as the bank reduced lira-denominated securities to counter declines in the currency.

Akbank reported 731.8 million liras ($269 million) in net profit in the first quarter, compared with the 710.4 million- lira average estimate of 13 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Profit a year earlier was 651.5 million liras the bank said.

Akbank said its non-performing loan ratio remained constant at 1.7 percent. A sell-off in the lira prompted Moody’s Investors Service to predict in March that Turkey’s non- performing loan ratio would climb to more than 3 percent for the first time this year since 2010, as companies struggle to repay debt in dollars.

“So far, in our portfolio, we don’t have any indication of decreased asset quality because of FX rates,” Atil Ozus, a deputy chief executive officer at the bank, said in a Friday conference call. Akbank is reducing the quantity of lira- denominated securities it holds, he said.

The lira has depreciated about 14 percent since the end of the 2014, more than any of the 31 major world currencies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.