Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, may be forced to leave his post after being accused of trying to rape a maid in his New York hotel room.
Below is a list of potential candidates to succeed the Frenchman at the Washington-based institution if he does step down. The post has traditionally gone to a European but there is rising pressure to consider a developing-country candidate.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, signaled on Monday that she preferred another European at the helm of the IMF, which has become heavily involved in bailouts of struggling euro zone countries Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
KEMAL DERVIS (TURKEY)
Seen as a leading candidate for the IMF post if it goes to a non-European, Dervis is credited with bringing Turkey back from the brink after a disastrous 2001 financial crisis, by pushing through tough reforms and helping secure a multi-billion dollar IMF bailout.
He left Turkey to join the World Bank in 1978, becoming vice president of the institution in 1996, but returned home to much fanfare in 2001 as economy minister when Ankara faced failing banks, soaring inflation and a massive currency devaluation.
He is currently vice president and director of the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.
CHRISTINE LAGARDE (FRANCE)
If the post does end up going to a European, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, 55, looks like a top candidate.
A medal-winning member of France's synchronized swimming team as a teenager and the first female chairman of U.S. law firm Baker MacKenzie, Lagarde won respect in the markets during the global financial crisis and helped promote France's negotiating clout in key forms like the Group of 20.
A flawless English speaker, Lagarde was voted best finance minister in Europe by the Financial Times in 2009.
Counting against her is her nationality. A Frenchman has run the IMF for 26 out of the last 33 years and the Strauss-Kahn embarrassment may make it difficult for Paris to argue that its run should continue. French President Nicolas Sarkozy may also be reluctant to see the popular Lagarde leave in the midst of France's G20 presidency and a year before the next election.
Lagarde also faces a possible inquiry into her role in awarding financial compensation to French businessman Bernard Tapie.
TREVOR MANUEL (SOUTH AFRICA)
Manuel, 55, is well-respected in global financial circles, having served as finance minister of South Africa from 1996 to 2009.
Born in Cape Town under apartheid, Manuel was a founding member of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and was imprisoned repeatedly by the South African government for political activities in the late 1980s.
Initially skeptical, the investment community watched with approval as Manuel made a swift transition from blue-jeaned activist to dark-suited minister in the 1990s.
Manuel's position in the cabinet was seen as crucial for foreign investors hoping for a stable transition after the ousting of President Thabo Mbeki in 2008.
Under Mbeki's successor Jacob Zuma, Manuel has continued to wield influence as head of South Africa's National Planning Commission.
AGUSTIN CARSTENS (MEXICO)
Carstens, 52, has served most of his professional career as an economic policymaker in his home country, becoming governor of the Bank of Mexico in January of last year after previously serving as the bank's chief economist.
His debut raised questions about the central bank's independence after Carstens pledged to work closely with the government and invited the finance minister to sit in on monetary policy discussions.
He had a successful stint as deputy managing director at the IMF from 2003 to 2006, before returning to Mexico to coordinate the economic policy program of President Felipe Calderon, later becoming secretary of finance.
Carstens obtained a PhD in economics in 1985 from the University of Chicago, a haven for proponents of deregulation and laissez-faire economics.
Working against Carstens is the fact that he comes from the Americas. Robert Zoellick of the United States runs the World Bank and other countries may not be keen to see officials from the same part of the world running the two global institutions.
MONTEK SINGH AHLUWLIA (INDIA)
Ahluwalia, 67, is an influential economic adviser to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and has been a key figure in the country's economic reforms from the mid-1980s onwards. He is a supporter of open markets, who has pushed the government to end fuel price controls and remove barriers to foreign business in his role as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India, a post he has held since 2004.
Before that Ahluwalia served as the first director of the IMF's Independent Evaluation Office. He started his career in the World Bank, joining the Indian government as an economic adviser in the finance ministry in 1979.
Working against his candidacy is his age.
STANLEY FISCHER (UNITED STATES/ISRAEL)
The Zambian-born Fischer, 67, knows the IMF well having served as first deputy managing director at the Fund from 1994 to 2001. A world-renowned economist, he has authored over a dozen books and headed the prestigious economics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's thesis adviser.
Fischer has served as Israel's central bank governor since 2005, adopting Israeli citizenship in order to secure the post, while retaining his U.S. passport. He is considered an inflation hawk and was among the first central bankers to raise interest rates in the aftermath of the global financial crisis after cutting them sharply when the crisis broke out in 2008.
Counting against his candidacy are his age and the fact that an American, Robert Zoellick, already heads the World Bank. His past career at U.S. bank Citigroup, blamed for missteps during the financial crisis, could also count against him.
MOHAMED EL-ERIAN (UNITED STATES/EGYPT/FRANCE)
El-Erian, 52, is CEO of Newport, California-based PIMCO, the world's largest bond investor.
An expert on emerging market debt, he worked at the IMF for 15 years in the 1980s and '90s, reaching the level of deputy director, before joining U.S. bank Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup as a managing director based in London. In 2008 he published the best-selling book "When Markets Collide."
El-Erian was born in New York to an Egyptian diplomat and French mother.
His name has been floated as a possible candidate for the top IMF post in the past, but his outspoken comments on the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis might make him unacceptable to the Europeans. He has openly criticised efforts to rescue Greece and called for a restructuring of its debt, a step still seen as taboo in Brussels and other European capitals.
PEER STEINBRUECK (GERMANY)
Steinbrueck, 64, is a long-shot to become IMF chief, in part because he alienated key allies ofGermany with his fiery rhetoric while serving as finance minister in conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's "grand coalition" from 2005 to 2009.
Despite coming from the rival Social Democrats, Steinbrueck developed a close relationship with Merkel in her first term, leading her government's response to the global financial crisis and laying down policies which helped Europe's largest economy rebound sharply from its deepest post-war recession.
Merkel indicated on Monday she preferred another European for the post and by pushing Steinbrueck's candidacy, she might hope to remove a potential rival in the 2013 German election, much as conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to do when he backed the Socialist Strauss-Kahn for the IMF job.
Steinbrueck alienated the United States by openly blaming it for the financial crisis and also strained ties with Switzerland with his aggressive push to crack down on tax havens, likening the Swiss at one point to Indians running from the cavalry.
AXEL WEBER (GERMANY)
Weber, 54, shocked Europe by announcing in February that he would step down early from his post as head of the German Bundesbank and would not be a candidate for the presidency of the European Central Bank.
He is also a long-shot for the IMF post, having angered Merkel with his surprise withdrawal from the ECB race and alienated other European countries, notably France, by openly opposing the ECB's decision to buy the bonds of weak euro zone countries at the height of the debt crisis.
Like Steinbrueck, Weber has a reputation as something of a loose cannon, who speaks his mind without regard to political or diplomatic constraints. A first rate economist, he has announced plans to teach at the University of Chicago next year and may prefer academia to a high-profile policymaking post.
GORDON BROWN (BRITAIN)
The 60-year old former prime minister and finance minister has long been seen as a candidate for the IMF job or another big international financial post, but his successor David Cameron dismissed him last month as a "deficit denier" and stated he was not the right man for the job, adding that rise of India and China meant it was time to look beyond Europe.
Below is a list of potential candidates to succeed the Frenchman at the Washington-based institution if he does step down. The post has traditionally gone to a European but there is rising pressure to consider a developing-country candidate.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, signaled on Monday that she preferred another European at the helm of the IMF, which has become heavily involved in bailouts of struggling euro zone countries Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
KEMAL DERVIS (TURKEY)
Seen as a leading candidate for the IMF post if it goes to a non-European, Dervis is credited with bringing Turkey back from the brink after a disastrous 2001 financial crisis, by pushing through tough reforms and helping secure a multi-billion dollar IMF bailout.
He left Turkey to join the World Bank in 1978, becoming vice president of the institution in 1996, but returned home to much fanfare in 2001 as economy minister when Ankara faced failing banks, soaring inflation and a massive currency devaluation.
He is currently vice president and director of the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.
CHRISTINE LAGARDE (FRANCE)
If the post does end up going to a European, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, 55, looks like a top candidate.
A medal-winning member of France's synchronized swimming team as a teenager and the first female chairman of U.S. law firm Baker MacKenzie, Lagarde won respect in the markets during the global financial crisis and helped promote France's negotiating clout in key forms like the Group of 20.
A flawless English speaker, Lagarde was voted best finance minister in Europe by the Financial Times in 2009.
Counting against her is her nationality. A Frenchman has run the IMF for 26 out of the last 33 years and the Strauss-Kahn embarrassment may make it difficult for Paris to argue that its run should continue. French President Nicolas Sarkozy may also be reluctant to see the popular Lagarde leave in the midst of France's G20 presidency and a year before the next election.
Lagarde also faces a possible inquiry into her role in awarding financial compensation to French businessman Bernard Tapie.
TREVOR MANUEL (SOUTH AFRICA)
Manuel, 55, is well-respected in global financial circles, having served as finance minister of South Africa from 1996 to 2009.
Born in Cape Town under apartheid, Manuel was a founding member of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and was imprisoned repeatedly by the South African government for political activities in the late 1980s.
Initially skeptical, the investment community watched with approval as Manuel made a swift transition from blue-jeaned activist to dark-suited minister in the 1990s.
Manuel's position in the cabinet was seen as crucial for foreign investors hoping for a stable transition after the ousting of President Thabo Mbeki in 2008.
Under Mbeki's successor Jacob Zuma, Manuel has continued to wield influence as head of South Africa's National Planning Commission.
AGUSTIN CARSTENS (MEXICO)
Carstens, 52, has served most of his professional career as an economic policymaker in his home country, becoming governor of the Bank of Mexico in January of last year after previously serving as the bank's chief economist.
His debut raised questions about the central bank's independence after Carstens pledged to work closely with the government and invited the finance minister to sit in on monetary policy discussions.
He had a successful stint as deputy managing director at the IMF from 2003 to 2006, before returning to Mexico to coordinate the economic policy program of President Felipe Calderon, later becoming secretary of finance.
Carstens obtained a PhD in economics in 1985 from the University of Chicago, a haven for proponents of deregulation and laissez-faire economics.
Working against Carstens is the fact that he comes from the Americas. Robert Zoellick of the United States runs the World Bank and other countries may not be keen to see officials from the same part of the world running the two global institutions.
MONTEK SINGH AHLUWLIA (INDIA)
Ahluwalia, 67, is an influential economic adviser to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and has been a key figure in the country's economic reforms from the mid-1980s onwards. He is a supporter of open markets, who has pushed the government to end fuel price controls and remove barriers to foreign business in his role as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India, a post he has held since 2004.
Before that Ahluwalia served as the first director of the IMF's Independent Evaluation Office. He started his career in the World Bank, joining the Indian government as an economic adviser in the finance ministry in 1979.
Working against his candidacy is his age.
STANLEY FISCHER (UNITED STATES/ISRAEL)
The Zambian-born Fischer, 67, knows the IMF well having served as first deputy managing director at the Fund from 1994 to 2001. A world-renowned economist, he has authored over a dozen books and headed the prestigious economics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's thesis adviser.
Fischer has served as Israel's central bank governor since 2005, adopting Israeli citizenship in order to secure the post, while retaining his U.S. passport. He is considered an inflation hawk and was among the first central bankers to raise interest rates in the aftermath of the global financial crisis after cutting them sharply when the crisis broke out in 2008.
Counting against his candidacy are his age and the fact that an American, Robert Zoellick, already heads the World Bank. His past career at U.S. bank Citigroup, blamed for missteps during the financial crisis, could also count against him.
MOHAMED EL-ERIAN (UNITED STATES/EGYPT/FRANCE)
El-Erian, 52, is CEO of Newport, California-based PIMCO, the world's largest bond investor.
An expert on emerging market debt, he worked at the IMF for 15 years in the 1980s and '90s, reaching the level of deputy director, before joining U.S. bank Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup as a managing director based in London. In 2008 he published the best-selling book "When Markets Collide."
El-Erian was born in New York to an Egyptian diplomat and French mother.
His name has been floated as a possible candidate for the top IMF post in the past, but his outspoken comments on the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis might make him unacceptable to the Europeans. He has openly criticised efforts to rescue Greece and called for a restructuring of its debt, a step still seen as taboo in Brussels and other European capitals.
PEER STEINBRUECK (GERMANY)
Steinbrueck, 64, is a long-shot to become IMF chief, in part because he alienated key allies ofGermany with his fiery rhetoric while serving as finance minister in conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's "grand coalition" from 2005 to 2009.
Despite coming from the rival Social Democrats, Steinbrueck developed a close relationship with Merkel in her first term, leading her government's response to the global financial crisis and laying down policies which helped Europe's largest economy rebound sharply from its deepest post-war recession.
Merkel indicated on Monday she preferred another European for the post and by pushing Steinbrueck's candidacy, she might hope to remove a potential rival in the 2013 German election, much as conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to do when he backed the Socialist Strauss-Kahn for the IMF job.
Steinbrueck alienated the United States by openly blaming it for the financial crisis and also strained ties with Switzerland with his aggressive push to crack down on tax havens, likening the Swiss at one point to Indians running from the cavalry.
AXEL WEBER (GERMANY)
He is also a long-shot for the IMF post, having angered Merkel with his surprise withdrawal from the ECB race and alienated other European countries, notably France, by openly opposing the ECB's decision to buy the bonds of weak euro zone countries at the height of the debt crisis.
Like Steinbrueck, Weber has a reputation as something of a loose cannon, who speaks his mind without regard to political or diplomatic constraints. A first rate economist, he has announced plans to teach at the University of Chicago next year and may prefer academia to a high-profile policymaking post.
GORDON BROWN (BRITAIN)
The 60-year old former prime minister and finance minister has long been seen as a candidate for the IMF job or another big international financial post, but his successor David Cameron dismissed him last month as a "deficit denier" and stated he was not the right man for the job, adding that rise of India and China meant it was time to look beyond Europe.
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