Turkey's banking watchdog approved on Thursday state-run Halkbank's purchase of a 76 stake of Serbia's local lender Cacanska Banka, Halkbank announced in a statement.The $10.9 million deal between the two banks was inked in March by Serbian Finance Minister Dusan Vujovic and by Halkbank CEO Ali Fuat Taskesenlioğlu.Halkbank is the second largest state lender in Turkey with 48.9 percent of its shares traded in Borsa Istanbul. As of 2014, the bank has 17,314 employees in 895 domestic and seven foreign branches. The bank had 155.4 billion Turkish Liras ($60.05 billion) worth of assets and posted 2.2 billion TL ($850 million) net profits in 2014. Halkbank also has an affiliate in Macedonia, named Halkbank A.D. Skopje, which operates in 30 branches throughout the country. The bank's move into Serbia is perceived as a step towards strengthening its presence in the Balkans.Ziraat Bank, Turkey's largest state-lender, operates an affiliate in Bosnia which has 27 branches.