Vietnam's Sacombank Profit Soars, Opens China Office

By Ho Binh Minh

HANOI (Reuters) - Sacombank STB.HM, Vietnam's sixth-largest bank, said it more than doubled its 2007 profit as loans and deposits expanded strongly amid a fast-growing economy and announced it had opened its first office in China.

Bank loans in Vietnam rose 37 percent last year as the economy grew at nearly 8.5 percent -- its fastest pace in just over a decade, after a boost given by World Trade Organization membership.

Sacombank's 2007 gross profit climbed to 1.45 trillion dong ($90 million). Sacombank Chairman Dang Van Thanh said last month it aimed to raise gross profit this year to 2.5 trillion dong.

Assets of the Ho Chi Minh City-based bank more than doubled to 63.48 trillion dong as deposits increased to 54.04 trillion dong, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

But the bank said the unaudited results did not include those of its four subsidiaries dealing with debt management, real estate, stock broking and leasing as well as two joint ventures, SacomInvest and VietFund Management.

Sacombank, or Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank, on Tuesday opened an office in Nanning, the capital of China's southern province of Guangxi which borders Vietnam, to profit from fast-growing trade between the two neighbors.

Its shares, the first to be listed in communist-ruled Vietnam, gained 0.8 percent to close at 63,000 dong on Tuesday. The bank was valued at $1.74 billion, the second-largest company on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange after Vinamilk VNM.HM.

The World Bank's International Finance Corp, Dragon Capital and ANZ Bank (ANZ.AX) together own 30 percent of Sacombank, the ceiling for foreign ownership of listed banks in Vietnam.

The Vietnam Association of Financial Investors said on Monday it was seeking approval from Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to raise the foreign ownership cap to up to 37 percent in a bid to boost Vietnam's capital markets.

($1=16,109 dong)

(Editing by Jan Dahinten)