North central bank posts €148m profit

The north’s central bank posted a 5.3 billion TL (€147.5m) profit in 2023, a more than fourfold Turkish Lira-value increase on the previous year.

In terms of euro value, given that the Turkish Lira lost around a third of its value between December 2022 and December 2023, the 2023 profit was around three times higher than the 2022 figure of 1.2bn TL.

In addition to its headline profit figures, the bank said its total assets increased by 102.5 per cent to 107.4m TL (€3m), while it holds legal reserves of 15m TL (€418,663).

The bank also disclosed that it had a total of 117 employees as of the end of 2023, down one from the figure at the end of the previous year.

Of those 117, two people are employed within the framework of the north’s disabled protection, rehabilitation, and employment law, and one is employed on a temporary contract.

A total of 76 employees participated in overseas training programmes during 2023, 75 of whom did so online and one of whom did so in person.

In terms of the central bank’s regulation of commercial banks in the north, it said it had requested defence letters from seven banks and one international banking units.

Of those seven cases, three investigations were postponed until 2024, two banks and one international banking unit were issued warnings, and two banks were issued administrative fines.