Bahrain's Albaraka Banking Group said its Turkish unit plans to expand its operations after posting a 31 per cent increase in 2007 net income.

Albaraka Turk's net income surged to $65.48 million from $50.04 million in the year-earlier period, the group said in a statement on Saturday.

Albaraka Turk's total assets rose 80 per cent to $3.15 billion in 2007, and customer deposits and unrestricted investment accounts rose 69 per cent to $2.56 billion in 2007, it said.

The bank plans to add 100 branches by the end of this year, after adding 17 branches in 2007.

Last year, Turkey's smallest Islamic lender sold shares in an initial public offering that raised $5.4 billion and was 32 times oversubscribed.-Reuters