Update: Lagarde to step down from IMF role to focus on ECB nomination

Nomination facing resistance from European Parliament

Managing director and chair of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde has announced she will step down from her role ahead of a vote on her nomination to become the next head of the European Central Bank (ECB).

According to the BBC, she will leave her role on 12 September after eight years at the helm, having become the first female boss of the IMF in 2011. Early this month, Lagarde was nominated by the European Council as its candidate to replace Mario Draghi as the next ECB president, which would also make her the first female to take on the post. Commenting on her resignation, she said: "With greater clarity now on the process for my nomination as ECB president and the time it will take, I have made this decision in the best interest of the fund. "The executive board will now be taking...