Halkbank closed the first quarter of the year with a TL 584 million ($219.15 million) net profit, and is planning to open 50 new branches as well as hire 500 employees. Halkbank achieved the target it set for the first quarter of 2015, and increased its total amount of credits by 6.3 percent to TL 143 million since the beginning of the year. Additionally, the total amount of cash credits reached TL 108.4 billion and total deposits reached TL 106.8 billion. The total of its assets increased by 3.8 percent in the first quarter, and the bank's equities also increased by 3.1 percent. The General Manager of Halkbank, Ali Fuat Taşkesenlioğlu, said they had a strong start in 2015 and the monetary expansion in Europe in the near future will support fund flow and the European economy, which is recovering, will help Turkey's growth. He stressed that with these developments, the banking sector will preserve the current profitability rates. Taşkesenlioğlu said they are expecting a 13-15 percent increase in their assets, 13-15 percent in deposits and 16-18 percent increase in cash credits.