UPDATE 2-Turkey's Akbank Q1 net profit 720 million lira

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ISTANBUL, May 9 (Reuters) - Akbank, Turkey's largest publicly traded bank in terms of market capitalisation, posted a first quarter net profit of 720 million lira ($567 million), its Deputy General Manager Hayri Culhaci said on Friday.

He did not provide comparative figures but data on the stock exchange website showed Akbank, which is 20 percent-owned by Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), reported net profit of 448 million lira in the same period last year.

Total assets of the bank rose to 81.1 billion lira in the first quarter from 72.1 billion lira during the same period last year.

Income from loans grew 11 percent quarter-on-quarter to 44.3 billion lira.

Shares in AK Bank fell 2.34 percent on Friday after Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said that it will sell $400 billion in assets over two to three years.

Culhaci said in a conference call loan growth was expected to be 20-25 percent in 2008.