UPDATE 1-Argentine Banco Macro 4th-quarter net rises 15 pct

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Banco Macro SA (BMA.BA: Quote, Profile, Research), one of Argentina's largest private banks, reported a fourth quarter net profit of 169 million pesos ($53 million) -- 15 percent higher than the year-earlier period -- in a statement to the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The company said net profit in the fourth quarter of 2006 was 147 million pesos.

The result came in above market expectations. In a Reuters survey of four analysts, the median outlook was for the fourth quarter profit to fall to 131.7 million pesos.

The bank cited improved net financial income, due to the higher value of government debt and higher interest rates on loans, as well as higher income from services.

Banco Macro is the third most important company on Argentina's benchmark MerVal index , weighted as 6.38 percent of the index.

The bank said private sector lending rose 63 percent, or by 3.8 billion pesos, between the end of 2006 and the end of 2007. That compared with a growth rate of 42 percent in the banking system as a whole, the bank said.

The biggest growth was in consumer lending, the bank said.

Banco Macro reduced its exposure to Argentine government and Central Bank loans during 2007. Total public sector assets were 6 percent of the bank's total assets at the end of December, down from 11.2 percent at the end of 2006 and lower than the banking system as a whole, the bank said. ($1 = 3.1725 pesos as of Dec. 31) (Reporting by Jorge Otaola; Translated by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)