Net profit of the Turkish banking sector totaled TL 53.52 billion in 2018, the country's banking watchdog announced Wednesday.

Last year, the banking sector's net profit surged 10.02 percent year-on-year, compared to TL 48.64 billion the previous year, according to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA).

Surging 18.7 percent on a yearly basis, total assets of the sector amounted to nearly TL 3.87 trillion as of December 2018. Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, rose some 14 percent to reach TL 2.39 trillion.

Deposits held at lenders in Turkey

—the largest liabilities item— totaled TL 2.03 trillion, showing an annual hike of 19 percent. Pointing lenders' minimum capital requirements, the banking sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio the higher the better stood at 17.27 percent by the end of 2018, while it was 16.85 percent a year ago.

Indicating the healthiness of given loans, the ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans the lower the better was 3.87 percent in the same period, as it was 2.95 percent in the same month of 2017.

As of December 2018, a total of 50 state/private/foreign lenders

including deposit banks, participation banks, and development and investment banksoperated in the Turkish banking sector.

The sector had more than 207,700 employees, serving through over 11,500 branches both in Turkey and overseas with some 48,500 ATMs.