The tide has turned on deposit interest rates! A drop of up to 4 points

In the final month of the year, TL deposit interest rates, which had exceeded 50 percent due to the combined effects of policy rate hikes, the exit strategy from KKM (FX-protected deposits), and banks' efforts to adjust their balance sheets, began to decline with the start of the new year. In some banks, interest rates on deposits with maturities of up to 3 months have fallen below 40 percent.

CLOSED THE YEAR AT 52.5 PERCENT

According to a report by Şebnem Turhan from Ekonomim; the standard TL deposit interest rates, which remained high in the last month of the previous year due to the Central Bank's policy rate hikes, the exit strategy from FX-protected deposits, and banks' year-end balance sheet adjustment moves, have begun to fall with the new year. Central Bank data revealed that the average flow of interest rates on TL deposits with maturities of up to 3 months closed the year at 52.5 percent in the final week of the year.

While TL deposit interest rates with maturities of up to 3 months, tracked by Ekonomi from private banks, closed the year at the 45-47 percent level, they fell to 41 percent with the new year. In some private banks, this rate has even dropped below 40 percent, to the 36-37 percent range.

In the last month of last year, although it varied from bank to bank in the banking sector depending on the needs of the balance sheet structure, the standard TL deposit interest rate for maturities of up to 3 months was at the 40.5-45 percent level for amounts under 50 thousand liras, and rose to the 48-53 percent level as the deposit volume grew. In the final week of the year, all banks stepped on the gas regarding TL deposit interest rates, and this acceleration was also reflected in the Central Bank's data. Standard TL deposit interest rates, which reached even higher levels with campaigns such as "welcome" or "new customer" bonuses, closed the year at the 52.5 percent level for maturities of up to 3 months.

4 POINT DROP!

In a report last week based on banking sector sources, Reuters also noted that margins were being squeezed due to banks' shrinking loan demand and high deposit interest rates, and that banks had begun to lower deposit interest rates since the beginning of the year. The banks' move was not delayed, and following the first week of the year, as of yesterday, standard TL deposit interest rates with maturities of up to 3 months were cut by at least 4 points.

In the week of December 25, the interest rate offered by banks on TL deposits of up to 100 thousand liras with maturities of up to 3 months was in the 45-50.5 percent range. Depending on the deposit volume, this rate reached 46-51 percent for up to 500 thousand liras, 46.5-52 percent for up to 1 million, and 47-53 percent for up to 10 million. By the week of January 8, the interest rates offered on the same deposits had fallen by 4 points at once. This decline occurred in both public and private banks. According to the deposit interest rates of the banks tracked by EKONOMİ, the deposit interest rate for maturities of up to 3 months fell to 36.5-41 percent for up to 100 thousand liras, to 39-42 percent for up to 500 thousand liras, to 42-43.5 percent for up to 1 million liras, and to 44 percent for deposits up to 10 million liras.

İş Bankası General Manager Hakan Aran also stated in his speech that banks set interest rates based on future inflation, and that the deposit interest rates they offer for the next three months are above inflation, emphasizing that customers' appetite for loans is low. The Central Bank is also trying to withdraw excess liquidity from the market through auctions it started after the last MPC meeting.