Determinants of Bank Profitability after Transition to the Strong Economy Program in Turkey

In Turkey, many important steps have been taken towards restructuring the banking sector within the framework of "Transition to the Strong Economy Program" which was put into practice after the economic crisis at the beginning of the 2000s. The positive effects of the program have begun to be seen from the mid-2000s however, there has been a decline in bank profitability. This study takes into consideration the heterogeneity in terms of bank profitability and separate the sector into two groups as low and high profitable banks. In this context, utilizing the panel GMM estimation methods the effects of bank-specific, sector-specific and macroeconomic variables on bank profitability in Turkey were analyzed during the period 2006-2016. The findings reveal significant policy implications for the banking sector.