A long custom of choosing European to lead the IMF still suits Washington and Europe, G7 officials and diplomats said last week, as political jockeying began over the job prematurely left open by Horst Koehler.
Mr Koehler resigned last Thursday to seek the German presidency and despite calls in some quarters to use this opportunity to change the informal understanding that the IMF chief should be European and the World Bank leader American, Washington sees the status quo sticking around.
The US and Europe are the biggest contributors and dominant shareholders of both institutions.
G7 officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they accept the old system.
European Union finance ministers are expected to meet this week to discuss the IMF leadership.
Most close to the process expect a swift decision, at least by the IMF Spring meetings in Washington April 24-25.
"Announcing something by the spring meeting should be a clear objective. I don't think this institution should go through more than a month without a leader, they should do it as quickly as possible," said one fund insider.
One official from the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations, speaking after a conference call among G7 members last week said: "The idea is to narrow the list of candidates by the middle of next week."
Possible successors named in the early hours were France's Jean Lemierre, who succeeded Mr Koehler as chief of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Briton Andrew Crockett, a former Bank for International Settlements head.
Other names in the pipeline include British finance minister Gordon Brown, Spain's economy minister Rodrigo Rato, Italy's Mario Draghi, a Goldman Sachs managing director, and Stanley Fischer at Citibank.
Haruhiko Kuroda, special adviser to Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet and former top financial diplomat could be another possibility should there be a breach of tradition.
US Treasury Secretary John Snow said Mr Koehler's replacement should be competent and have an understanding of the increasingly sophisticated world economy.
"The issue now is his successor and we want to see somebody succeed him who will have the same qualities and competency," Mr Snow said.
"So our point of view is that the choice of a successor should be one in which the membership of the IMF participates and the focus ought to be on the very best person," he added.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said the fund should discard tradition and select someone from the developing world.
"If it's another European, it's going to contribute to the complaints about the way globalisation is being managed. But I'm afraid that it's going to be another European," he said.
The change of IMF management after France's Michel Camdessus triggered an ugly debate between Europe, which insisted on keeping the job, and other countries which said the tradition should be abandoned.
The bank and the fund responded to the criticism by setting up separate committees in July 2001 to review the process for selecting each institution's chief but there is still no formal procedure for the selection.