2017 Annual Report
ZIRAAT BANK’S FINANCIAL STANDING, PROFITABILITY AND SOLVENCY

Ziraat Bank seeks to strengthen its financial structure through sustainable growth, profitability, and productivity. In 2017 the Bank continued to reinforce its equity-compatible balance sheet structure through the asset & liability management strategies that it adhered to and it remained on course in terms of capital adequacy, profitability, and productivity.

As of year-end 2017 the Bank’s total assets amounted to TL 434.3 billion and its total equity to TL 47 billion. Importance was again given to supporting equity through sustainable profitability: total equity accounted for about a 10.82% share of the Bank’s balance sheet.

Recognizing the key importance of sustainable profitability in equity management, Ziraat Bank’s return on equity and return on assets ratios were 18.3% and 2% respectively while its capital adequacy ratio was 15.20% at 2017 year-end.

In keeping with the Ziraat Bank Customer Service Model, the Bank focuses on providing financial solutions to all real-sector actors, but especially to those in agriculture, with the result that lendings are making up a steadily increasing share in the balance sheet. As a result of this customer-weighted balance sheet management strategy, the total volume of the Bank’s cash loans increased by 28% to TL 298.3 billion and corresponded to 69% of total assets while the share of marketable securities, which was 19% in 2015, was down to 17% in 2017. Efforts to reduce the share of securities in the balance sheet will continue in the coming years. Ziraat Bank’s NPL ratio in 2017 was 1.6%. The Bank’s consistent ability to maintain a below-average NPL ratio without selling off any of its assets is an indication of the high quality of its asset structure.

In line with Ziraat Bank’s approach of contributing to the country’s overall level of saving and of having recourse to broadly-based, low-cost resources, total deposits reached TL 266 billion, a performance that maintained the Bank’s standing as the sector’s leading deposit-taker in 2017. Deposits and non-deposit resources including funds account for 61.3% and 24% shares respectively of total liabilities. In keeping with the Bank’s ongoing efforts to diversify and deepen its sources of funding, in 2017 Ziraat Bank continued to seek out and tap alternatives such as international agency and financial institution lines of credit, post-financing, and bank bond & bill issues.

The bank’s most important income item in 2017 was interest income, which amounted to TL 35.5 billion. The share of interest received from loans in total interest income increased from 79% to 80% as a result of the credit activities carried out during the year. As a result of the Bank’s efforts to increase non-interest income, net fees and commission income increased by 35% in 2017.