Money managers in Turkey are poised to report record growth in profits thanks to a surge in assets under management and an increase in share prices, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Net income has almost doubled on average at 11 asset management companies reporting results for 2020, Bloomberg said. The earnings, which cover 58 percent of the assets under management at 43 companies in the sector, signal that last year was the most profitable since at least 2014, it said.
“With the influx of local investors during the pandemic, there has been a significant growth in assets under management, which is what has brought about this high profitability,” said Okan Alpay, head of Tacirler Asset Management in Istanbul.
Turkish investors have turned to the stock market, foreign currency and gold to protect their savings after returns from bank deposits fell below the rate of inflation and the lira weakened to successive record lows against the dollar last year. The stock market gained by 30 percent in 2020 outpacing annual inflation of around 14 percent.
Total assets under management at Turkish firms rose by one-third to 356.4 billion liras ($50 billion) as of November compared with a year previously, Bloomberg said, citing data from the Turkish Capital Markets Association.
The number of active investors in Turkey increased by 18 percent to 4.7 million last year, with equity investors rising to 2 million, according to figures published by the Central Securities Depository of Turkey. Active government bond investors fell by 50 percent in the 11 months ending on Dec. 31, Bloomberg said.
Ahval