Officially, Mr. Wolfowitz and the bank are now to wait for a full report by the bank’s board on his leadership and charges of favoritism in dealing with Ms. Riza, who was employed at the bank until 2005. But bank officials said that in delaying a finding, the board seemed to be buying time for Mr. Wolfowitz to consider resigning.

European officials close to the bank said that if anything, Mr. Wolfowitz’s apparent dismissal of the criticism on Sunday would increase the determination of the wealthy European donor nations of the bank — especially Britain, France and Germany — that he needed to step aside for the good of the bank.

Although the storm over Mr. Wolfowitz has flared in the last few weeks because of his handling of Ms. Riza’s case, unhappiness with his leadership began almost from the day he was appointed two years ago. Staff and high-ranking officials, uneasy over being led by an architect of the Iraq war, grew increasingly rebellious over many of his policies, particularly those cracking down on corruption in the granting of loans to poor countries. Staff members angrily accused him of seeing them as accessories to corruption.

Several European officials said their concern now was that Mr. Wolfowitz would not be able to carry out the job of raising $30 billion over the next three years for the International Development Agency, the arm of the bank that provides low-cost loans and assistance to the poorest countries.

Mr. Wolfowitz signaled that raising the $30 billion was already a major challenge over the last year, not because of recent events. “The donors are now unfortunately in a position of not fulfilling their promises,” he said. Concerns about the future of this money were conveyed during the weekend to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., European officials said.

“This was a point conveyed in several meetings,” said a bank official. “I think Paulson knows this.”

Late Sunday, a Treasury spokeswoman, Brookly McLaughlin, said Mr. Paulson “is counseling all parties to allow the process to proceed in a fair and respectful manner.”