Vietnam's Techcombank says Q1 2008 assets double

HANOI, April 11 (Reuters) - Vietnam's Techcombank, 15 percent owned by HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (0005.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Friday its assets doubled to 46.2 trillion dong ($2.9 billion) at the end of March from the first quarter of last year.

The unlisted Techcombank, or Technological and Commercial Bank, made a gross profit of 220 billion dong during the first three months of 2008, as loans jumped 134 percent to 25.8 trillion dong, it said in a statement sent to Reuters.

Hanoi-based Techcombank, Vietnam's seventh-largest lender by assets, has said its assets jumped 128 percent to 39.5 trillion dong last year and the audited net profit also nearly doubled to 510 billion dong.

Techcombank is the first bank in Vietnam, the world's largest robusta coffee producer, to provide broking services for coffee exporters to trade directly on the London futures market.

In January the bank said it would expand its retail operations and open broking and fund management units this year. It has projected that assets will rise to 70 trillion dong at the end of 2008 with a doubling in profit. ($1=15,957 dong) (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Alan Raybould)