Santander has been linked with acquiring
General Electric’s (GE) 20.85 percent stake in Garanti, cashing in
on Turkey’s strong fiscal 2009 results and the country’s resilience
to the financial crisis.
Garanti, Turkey’s largest bank by market
capitalisation, said GE was considering selling its $3.3 billion
stake in the bank, paving the way for Santander to invest in
Turkey’s strong banking sector.
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GE told RBI that it is “considering
strategic options” for selling its stake in Garanti.
Kursat Ozkan, GE’s chief executive in Turkey
added that the decision “in no way changes GE’s view that Turkey
remains an exciting and important location for GE industrial
investment”.
A spokesman from Santander declined to
comment.
Garanti reported a net profit of TRY2.96
billion ($1.9 billion) for fiscal 2009, a 69 percent increase
compared to a year earlier. The bank’s total assets
rose 19 percent to TRY105.5 billion in 2009.
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By GlobalDataThe bank’s retail banking performance was also
strong. Retail net profits rose by 16 percent to TRY1.22
billion in 2009, while retail assets grew 3 percent to TRY16.93
billion, with a retail lending market share of 13.2
percent.
The bank said its focus for 2010 was to
continue to grow its deposits, which grew 19 percent to TRY62.8
billion in 2009, a market share of 12.4 percent.
The strong results come as the entire Turkish
banking sector posted record profits in 2009 as the central bank
cut interest rates (see RBI
627).
Ergun Özen, chief executive of the bank, said
the bank had “never lost faith in the national economy even during
the dire moments of the global crisis”.
“We have completed this tough year
successfully with a liquid, timely positioned and well-structured
balance sheet. We continued to support the economy via lending
and…Garanti prevailed through these hard times and emerged stronger
increasing our market share,” he added.
In the fourth quarter, the bank posted record
earnings with a year-on-year net profit growth of 78 percent.
This was despite the Turkish economy shrinking by 3.3 percent in
the third quarter of 2009, after higher contractions in the
previous three quarters.
Garanti’s non-performing loans stood at 4.3
percent in the fourth quarter, compared to a sector average of 5.2
percent.
Its strategy to expand its customer base has
proved successful with branch numbers reaching 792, 62 more than a
year ago. The bank has the most widespread point-of-sale
(POS) network in Turkey with around 360,000 terminals and has a
credit card portfolio of 8 million. It attracted 1 million
new customers in 2009, bringing the total to 9 million.
The bank’s online banking channel accounted
for 40 percent of all transactions during 2009.
|
PERFORMANCE |
|||
|
Garanti – fundamentals |
|||
|
2009 |
2008 |
% change |
|
|
Net interest income (TRYbn) |
5.07 |
3.17 |
60 |
|
Net fees and commissions (TRYbn) |
1.64 |
1.44 |
14 |
|
Total revenue (TRYbn) |
6.73 |
4.52 |
49 |
|
Group total assets (TRYbn) |
105.5 |
88.9 |
19 |
|
Group net profit (TRYbn) |
2.96 |
1.75 |
69 |
|
Retail loans (TRYbn) |
16.93 |
16.45 |
3 |
|
Retail deposits (TRYbn) |
36.74 |
31.33 |
17 |
|
Retail net profit (TRYbn) |
1.20 |
1.05 |
16 |
|
Cost-income ratio (%) |
38.1 |
53.5 |
(1,540bps) |
|
NPL ratio (%) |
4.30 |
2.00 |
230 bps |
|
Branches |
792 |
730 |
9 |
|
Source: Garanti |
|||
