The net profit of Turkish banks reached TL 65.6 billion ($3.48 billion) in the January-February period, with a 68% rise compared to last year, the country's banking watchdog announced on Wednesday.

Total assets of the lenders totaled TL 15 trillion ($797.5 billion) in February, rising from TL 9.5 trillion in the same month last year, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) data showed.

Loans, the largest sub-category of assets, amounted to TL 8.1 trillion last month with a 6.3% increase compared to the same period of the previous year.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Türkiye – the largest liabilities item – came in at TL 9.4 trillion with a 6.5% rise.

The sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio – the higher the better – stood at 17.15% at the end of February.

The ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans – the lower the better – was 1.93% in February from 2.01% a month before.

As of end-February, a total of 54 state/private/foreign lenders – including deposit banks, participation banks, and development and investment banks – were operating in Türkiye.

The sector had 209,208 employees working at 1,156 branches both in Türkiye and abroad, along with a total of 48,858 ATMs.