Fitch says Turkish banks face tougher 2015, outlook stable

The sector's increased reliance on short-term, foreign-currency funding represents the biggest risk to the outlook, Fitch said in a statement regarding its new report, titled “2015 Outlook: Turkish Banks”.

The ratings agency also said in the statement:

"Our base case is for economic growth over the medium term to remain below recent highs, with ongoing but manageable interest- and exchange-rate volatility and continued access to international funding. Asset quality is likely to deteriorate due to seasoning of loan portfolios, increased consumer indebtedness and the depreciation of the lira, which may weaken the debt servicing capacity of foreign-currency borrowers.

High interest rates and competition for deposits will push up funding costs but margin pressure should only be moderate as Turkish banks have successfully re-priced loans in the past.

Turkish banks have steadily increased their foreign-currency liabilities. Foreign debt has almost trebled since the end of 2008 and has become more short term. This has significantly increased the potential impact of an abrupt change in investor sentiment that cut the banks' market access. However, we believe that under most scenarios foreign-currency liquidity would be sufficient."