Vietnam's Oricombank says 2007 net jumps 62.6 pct

HO CHI MINH CITY, April 14 (Reuters) - Vietnam's Oricombank, 10 percent owned by France's BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said its net profit surged 62.6 percent last year to 168.59 billion dong ($10.6 million) thanks to strong lending.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based Oricombank, also known as Phuong Dong Commercial Bank, said its audited assets jumped 82.6 percent last year to 11.76 trillion dong, of which loans rose 62.2 percent to 7.56 trillion dong, it said in a statement.

The statement did not say what proportion of the unlisted bank's loans was bad.

One of Vietnam's 35 partly private banks, only Oricombank and eight others have sold shares to foreign banks as they sought expertise and greater business opportunities in the country's fast-developing economy.

BNP Paribas bought its 10-percent stake in Oricombank last year and said it wanted to double it to 20 percent.

Vietnam caps foreign ownership in a domestic bank at 30 percent, with a 15-percent limit for an individual strategic investor. Such a strategic investor needs government approval to increase his stake to 20 percent.

Vietcombank, the country's third-largest bank by assets and the first among its five-state-run banks to conduct an initial public offering last December, owns 8.7 percent in Oricombank.

Top brewer Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp (Sabeco) also has a 5-percent stake in Oricombank.

Oricombank has planned to issue convertible bonds to raise 1.2 trillion dong this year so it could nearly double its registered capital to 2 trillion dong. ($1=15,955 dong) (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh)