UPDATE 1-Vietnam's Sacombank aims for slower growth

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By Ho Binh Minh

HANOI, March 19 (Reuters) - Sacombank STB.HM, Vietnam's sixth-largest bank, said on Wednesday it expected a 38 percent rise in gross profit this year to 2 trillion dong ($125 million) and lending growth of 34 percent.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based bank's assets should expand 46.5 percent to 93 trillion dong this year and deposits jump 48 percent to 80 trillion dong, it said in a statement after a shareholder meeting on Monday.

Sacombank's profit growth projection slowed from a jump of 167 percent last year, when its assets also soared 156 percent and loans jumped 136 percent.

Sacombank aimed for a lower growth this year after the central bank announced measures such as raising interest rates and reserves that banks have to put aside to combat inflation.

It also planned to limit the country's credit growth to 30 percent this year after loans jumped nearly 38 percent last year. The statement said Sacombank, or Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank, would issue more shares this year to raise its registered capital by 36 percent to 6.05 trillion dong.

The bank planned to open six more branches in Hanoi, other northern provinces and in Ho Chi Minh City and complete procedures to start branch operation in Laos and Cambodia.

Sacombank would also start operating a gold trading firm, another venture with ANZ Bank (ANZ.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), one of its three major foreign shareholders, to provide credit card services.