Vakıf Bank

The Turkish Banking Association (TBB) on April 21 elected Alpaslan Çakar, the general manager of Ziraat Bank, as its new chairman.

In a statement, TBB said elections for the chairman of the board of directors and vice chairman were held at the board meeting.

Three major conventional state-run banks in Turkey - Ziraat, VakıfBank, and Halkbank - posted 15.43 billion Turkish liras ($2.1 billion) in net profit last year.

The banks' net profit rose from around 10.5 billion Turkish liras ($1.8 billion) in the previous year, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency from unconsolidated balance sheets and the country's banking watchdog.

The picture of a pile of 80 million Turkish Liras of cash, roughly $13.5 million, has excited millions of Turkish citizens, who are rushing to buy traditional New Year's Eve lottery tickets.

The grand prize was presented to the public at a Vakıf Bank branch in Ankara on Dec. 25.