Shawbrook CEO Pyman to take leave of absence due to illness

LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) - New British bank Shawbrook said its Chief Executive Richard Pyman had taken a temporary leave of absence due to illness and appointed finance chief Tom Wood as interim CEO.

The bank, which listed on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) in April, said Wood would be assisted by Stephen Johnson, who has recently received regulatory approval to become deputy chief executive.

Shawbrook said net lending to customers had increased by 11.6 percent to stand at 2.6 billion pounds ($4.1 billion) at the end of March. It said it had made an encouraging start to the year and was on track to achieve its 2015 expectations. ($1 = 0.6379 pounds) (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Steve Slater)