ICICI Bank says Chanda Kochhar to go on leave during probe; names new COO

MUMBAI (Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd said on Monday Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar would go on leave until the completion of an inquiry over an alleged conflict of interest, and named Sandeep Bakhshi, the head of its life insurance unit, as chief operating officer (COO) of the bank.

Bakhshi, whose appointment is for a period of five years beginning June 19, pending regulatory approvals, will report to Kochhar, the bank said in a statement.

The new COO will report to the bank's board during Kochhar's period of leave.

"Bakhshi will be responsible for handling all the businesses and corporate centre functions at the Bank," the bank said in a statement late on Monday, adding all executive directors of the bank and the executive management would report to him.

ICICI, the third-biggest Indian lender by assets, said last month it would institute a probe headed by an independent person into the allegations raised by an anonymous whistleblower against Kochhar.

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy and Abhirup Roy; Editing by Mark Potter)