Banco de Chile sees loans up 10-11 pct

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Banco de Chile, the country's second biggest bank, sees its loan portfolio growing between 10 percent and 11 percent this year in real terms and a slight increase in market share, its top executive said on Friday.

Chief Executive Pablo Granifo told the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit in Santiago that he hoped to have as good a year in 2006 as last year, when the bank's net profit was a record $352 million, up 14 percent from 2004.

"During 2006 I don't see reasons not to have just as good a year as 2005. We made ... a more than respectable profit last year and I believe there aren't any reasons not to try to have a year as good as last year," Granifo said.

Granifo said Banco de Chile will sell a $200 million 10-year bond on foreign markets in the first half of the year. He said the issue would be subordinated debt "without prepayment," and that the lead bank was Deutsche Bank.

Granifo said the bank was issuing the bond to meet capital requirements, because other debt matured and is coming due.

"These $200 million in bonds give us the freedom to cover our 2006-2007 capital base," he said.

Banco de Chile's total loan portfolio at the end of 2005 was $15.995 billion, up 15 percent year-on-year. Granifo said the slower growth rate in loans this year was because interest rates were higher.

He also said Banco de Chile's market share would expand slightly this year, to 18.5 percent from 18.3 percent, in the highly competitive Chilean banking sector.

The bank, controlled by Chile's Luksic family, also has branches in New York and Miami and offices in Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Buenos Aires.

In November, Banco de Chile CHI.SN (BCH.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), whose main competitor in Chile is No. 1 bank Santander Santiago STG.SN, said it would be the first Chilean financial institution to open an office in Beijing and it also has a small operation to help export-import clients in Hong Kong.