Evaluation of the financial performance of banks serving in Turkey with multi-criteria decision-making methods

The banking sector is one of the determinants of a country's financial health. Weakness or collapse in the banking sector often negatively affects the general balance of the country's economy and market functioning. Bank failure can cause serious damage to the economy, the banking sector and investors. Therefore, it is extremely important to monitor the performance of banks regularly and take appropriate measures when necessary. Carefully monitoring the financial situations of evaluated and monitored banks helps to intervene in a timely manner in crisis situations. This approach not only maintains economic stability, but also allows investors to balance their risks. The focus of this research is to analyze the performances of deposit banks, which constitute an important part of the banking sector, with multi-criteria decision-making methods. The multi-criteria decision-making method is used when more than one factor has an impact on decisions. Within the scope of this study, the financial performances of a total of 12 commercial banks operating in Turkey were examined and their performance rankings were tried to be determined. Total assets, total deposits, total equity, period net profit/loss, number of branches, number of personnel, which are important quantities in terms of deposit banking, are weighted with Entropy and MEREC, which are weighting methods. After weighting, the performance rankings of banks were made using ARAS and WASPAS methods. According to the findings of the study, T.C. Ziraat Bank was selected as the bank with the highest financial performance in 2021, 2022 and 2023, while Turkish Bank was selected as the bank with the lowest financial performance.