Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ.AU) said Friday that John Morschel will take over as its chairman early next year, after previously anointed chairman Rod Eddington withdrew his acceptance of the role amid investor disquiet over his role at collapsed asset manager Allco Finance Group.

In a statement, ANZ Bank said Morschel, who has been on the lender's board since October 2004, will take over the chairman's role from Charles Goode in February.

The bank didn't give reasons for Eddington's decision to walk away from the position. An ANZ spokeswoman declined further comment.

Eddington's role as an independent director at failed Allco concerned some investors and could have hampered a smooth changeover between Goode and Eddington.

"I understand that various investors had expressed their concern to representatives of the bank, and that was taken note of. Allco was the key point there," said Constellation Capital head of research Peter Vann.

"Any director, particularly a chairman, of a bank has to have a pretty good track record," Vann said. "Unfortunately, Allco has blemished that somewhat for Eddington."

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is investigating the collapse of Allco, which was put into voluntary administration in November 2008 last year with high levels of debt after coming unstuck as the global credit crunch took hold. It had been trying to sell assets to repay debt.

ANZ Bank first flagged Eddington's appointment to the board and as its chairman-designate in November last year. Eddington was to have joined the board in the second half of this year and take up chairman's role early next year.

Eddington's decision to withdraw his interest in the role at ANZ, given ongoing uncertainty over the outcome of ASIC's investigation into Allco's collapse, had been speculated by recent Australian media reports.

"We respect his decision," Goode said of Eddington, a former chief executive of British Airways, who also sits on boards including miner Rio Tinto (RTP) and News Corp. (NWS). News Corp. owns Dow Jones, publisher of this newswire.

There was a significant protest vote against the reelection of Eddington to Rio Tinto's board at its April shareholder meeting in Sydney after advisory group RiskMetrics said his directorship at failed asset manager Allco was a reason to vote against him.

Eddington was nonetheless reelected to the board of Rio Tinto in April. Since that time, Rio Tinto walked away from a US$19.5 billion deal which would have seen Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH), or Chinalco, increase its stake in the miner to 18% from 9.3%.

Instead, Rio Tinto agreed to form an iron ore joint venture with rival BHP Billiton (BHP), presumably adding significantly to Eddington's board commitments at Rio Tinto.

Eddington, who remains well-regarded by many in the Australian market, is also non-executive Chairman of JPMorgan Australia, and also chairs Infrastructure Australia, a government body set up to develop a blueprint for the future of the nation's transport, water, energy and communications infrastructure.

Morschel, who has served as chairman of a number of high-profile Australian companies, including Leighton Holdings Ltd. and CSR Ltd., was unanimously supported by the ANZ board.

"I look forward to continuing to work with the excellent management team led by (Chief Executive) Mike Smith in realizing our vision to build a super regional bank," Morschel said in the statement.

Morschel will oversee ANZ Bank's expansion into Asia. The bank remains in talks to buy some of Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) retail and commercial banking operations in Asia, and has built a sizable war chest that could help fund further acquisitions in the region.

Constellation Capital's Vann said Morschel has a solid reputation among investors, and has solid experience in the sector.

-By Lyndal McFarland, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2093; lyndal.mcfarland@dowjones.com