MEDELLIN, Colombia, March 2 (Reuters) - While more and more banks around the world seek state bailouts, Colombia's largest bank voted on Monday to give shareholders a bigger share of last year's record net profit, and announced new investments.

Bancolombia BIC.CN(CIB.N) shareholders approved a 9.9 percent increase in their yearly dividend at the bank's annual meeting, although the company's president warned that 2009 would be a tough year due to the global economic crisis.

Loan portfolio growth is expected to slow sharply this year, Bancolombia President Jorge Londono told reporters.

"When the economy's growing at a rate of more than 7 percent like it did in 2007, all businesses do well. When it grows by 2 percent, they don't do as well," he said.

Colombia's Bancolombia does not expect to emerge from this year unscathed by the world financial and economic crisis, but directors still think loan portfolios will grow by about 8 percent compared with 17 to 18 percent in 2008.

As well as agreeing the dividend of 624 pesos ($0.24) per share, Bancolombia announced plans to auction the first tranche of $391 million in subordinated debt later this week and invest between $125 million and $150 million in new technology.

Colombia's economy is slowing, hit by the global credit squeeze and lower export earnings.

Gross domestic product rose only about 3 percent last year and the stock market plunged by 30 percent, but the banking sector emerged in reasonable shape. 

Banks' loan portfolios rose 17 percent from 2007.

Analysts say Colombia's financial sector learned its lesson during the recession of the late 1990s. Colombia had to bail out several failing local banks at a cost of some $6 billion during the crisis.

"The truth is that in Latin America, and especially in Colombia, the financial sector is experiencing current times in a different way to the rest of the world," said Alejandro Gaviria, economics dean at the Los Andes university in Bogota.

"One reason for this is that Colombia's financial system learned the lesson of the previous decade and regulations are demanding," said Gaviria, who is also a member of Bancolombia's board of directors.

Gaviria added that the nation's banks and regulators had become more cautious about their exposure to bad debt.

Banks in Latin America, many of them controlled by foreign players, are generally well-capitalized and have not dabbled in areas such as subprime lending, instead focusing on meeting demand for credit from credit-worthy consumers and companies. ($1 = 2,587 Colombian pesos) (Writing by Helen Popper; Editing by Gary Hill)

Source: Reuters