Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the embattled managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has resigned, saying he wants to devote “all his energy” to battle the sexual assault charges he faces in New York.

The IMF’s executive board released a letter from the French executive Wednesday in which he denied the allegations lodged against him but said that he felt he must resign. He said he was thinking of his family and he wanted to protect the IMF.

“It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the executive board my resignation from my post of managing director of the IMF,” the five-paragraph letter said. “I think at this time first of my wife — whom I love more than anything — of my children, of my family, of my friends. I think also of my colleagues at the Fund. Together we have accomplished such great things over the last three years and more.

“To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me. I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially — especially — I want to devote all my strength, all my time and all my energy to proving my innocence.”

Strauss-Kahn, who faced increasing international pressure to quit, announced his decision on the eve of a bail hearing Thursday that could have spelled the end of his leadership of the IMF anyway. He faces charges of assaulting a maid in a New York hotel room.

The maid, a 32-year-old immigrant from the West African nation of Guinea, told police that the 62-year-old Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom naked, chased her down, forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear before she broke free and fled the room.

Strauss-Kahn is jailed in New York City.

The IMF’s statement late Wednesday said the process of choosing a new leader would begin, but in the meantime John Lipsky would remain acting managing director.

The dividing lines are sharpening in a dispute over whether someone from a rich or an emerging economy should lead the IMF.

Europe is aggressively staking its traditional claim to the top position. But fast-growing nations such as China, Brazil and South Africa are trying to break Europe’s grip on an organization empowered to direct billions of dollars to stabilize the global economy.

Europeans have led the IMF since its inception after World War II. Americans have occupied both the No. 2 position at the IMF and the top post at its sister institution, the World Bank. The World Bank funds projects in developing countries.