Kazkommertsbank sees net profit up 20 pct in 2008

ALMATY, March 19 (Reuters) - Kazkommertsbank (KKGByq.L) KKGB.KZ, Kazakhstan's biggest bank, expects its 2008 net profit to grow by about 20 percent compared to last year, a senior bank official said on Wednesday.

"We conservatively project our net profit growth in 2008 to be at around 20 percent," Maral Amrina, Director of Financial Institutions, told a conference call. "We expect our net interest margin in 2008 to be higher than 6.2 percent.

"In 2008 we do not project any growth in (our) loan book or assets," she added. (Reporting Olzhas Auyezov; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Richard Hubbard)