Vietnam's Southern Bank says 2007 net rises 32 pct

HANOI, April 21 (Reuters) - Vietnam's Southern Commercial Bank, 10 percent owned by Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI), said on Monday its net profit rose 32 percent last year to 190.37 billion dong ($12 million).

The Ho Chi Minh City-based bank, also known as Phuong Nam Commercial Bank, said in a statement that its audited assets soared 87.8 percent last year to 17.13 trillion dong, of which loans increased 25.7 percent to 5.87 trillion dong.

Southern Bank, one of the 10 largest partly-private banks among Vietnam's 35 such lenders, gave no details of its bad debts.

Nine of these partially-private Vietnamese banks, including Southern Bank, have so far sold shares to foreign banks as they sought expertise and greater business opportunities in the country's fast-developing economy.

Southern Bank has not released its full financial report for 2007 but the bank has said that the state increased its stake in the bank to 6.51 percent in 2006, from 5.62 percent in the previous year.

Southern Bank last year said UOB, Singapore's second-largest lender, has sought permission to double its stake in Southern Bank to 20 percent, the ceiling allowed by the Vietnamese government for a foreign bank's investment in a domestic bank. ($1=16110 Dong) (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing By Ovais Subhani)