* Maintains its 2010 loan growth target of 8 percent this year, President & CEO Mark John Arnold told reporters. Its loans grew 3.2 percent in the first six months.
* Expects net interest margin of 5 percent this year, up from 4.1 percent in 2009, due to rising interest rates.
* Plans to sell about 5 billion baht of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the second half.
* The country's fifth-largest lender, 33 percent owned by a unit of General Electric Co, posted a better-than-expected 24 percent rise in net profit to 2.13 billion baht in the second quarter.
($1=32.26 Baht)
(Reporting by Manunphattr Dhanananphorn; Writing by Arada Kultawanich; Editing by Alan Raybould)
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