Sir Rod Eddington May Decline ANZ Chairman’s Role

Post by Sharat on April 28, 2009 · Under Australian Economy, Business News, Company News, banking, news · 1 Comment

Reports are emerging that Sir Rod Eddington, may decline the Chairmanship of Australian banking major ANZ. The Australian, in its report suggested that Sir Rod, who had intended to join the board of ANZ as soon as July and then adopt the role of Chairman sometime next year is now in two minds.

The Australian suggested that Sir Rod was concerned that he would not be able complete his commitment as a board member to mining giant Rio Tinto in time to accept an appointment to the board of ANZ. Sir Rod also has concerns over the implications on the banking crisis and the impact of corporate failure of Allco Finance on his potential new employer.

The report went on to add that Sir Rod had put any decision on hold and would discuss the issue with ANZ’s current Chairman Charlie Goode and other colleagues.

The idea being thrown about is that Sir Rod has a renewed commitment to Rio Tinto after it rebuffed a merger proposal from rival BHP Tinto the report said,

“Last year many investors had thought BHP Billiton would by now control Rio, but not only has this not happened, the workload is intensifying at Rio amid doubts over the Chinalco deal and growing expectations that BHP will make another attack any time soon.”

Sir Rod who is also chairman of Infrastructure Australia and serves on the board of News Corporation, will step down from the board of JP Morgan as planned in two months time.

Compare Australiian Credit Card Deals