US wants speedy selection of next IMF chief

US has called for an "open process" to select the next International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief after Dominique Strauss-Kahn's resigned to fight sex charges in New York.

"We want to see an open process that leads to a prompt succession for the Fund's new Managing Director," US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said.

"As Acting Managing Director, John Lipsky will provide able and experienced leadership to the Fund at this critical time for the global economy," Geithner said in a statement.

The International Monetary Fund's governing board last night said John Lipsky would remain acting managing director until someone is elected to serve the final three years of Strauss-Kahn's term.

Lipsky is an American banker who had previously worked as vice chairman of JPMorgan Investment Bank.

Europeans have led IMF since its inception after World War II and appear to be uniting behind French Foreign Minister Christine Lagarde to take the helm.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday called Strauss-Kahn's resignation "inevitable" and called for an "open and transparent selection process" for Strauss-Kahn's replacement.

But China, Brazil and South Africa are leading an effort to install someone from the developing world.

While South Africa called for a candidate from a developing country to be named as Strauss-Kahn's successor, Brazil called for establishing criteria and conducting a thorough search.

Meanwhile, the IMF Executive Board has started the selection process of a new Managing Director.

"The Dean of the IMF Executive Board is initiating contacts with his colleagues on Friday about the selection process for the Managing Director," said William Murray, an IMF spokesman.

"I deeply regret the circumstances that have made it necessary for me to substitute for the Fund's Managing Director," Lipsky said in his remarks to the IMF Annual Meeting of the Bretton Woods Committee.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, had on Thursday resigned from the IMF. He is accused of groping and mauling a Guinean maid in his room at Sofitel hotel in Times Square and forcibly tried to have oral sex with her.