The World Bank board has bowed to pressure from the US Treasury to give Paul Wolfowitz more time to respond to findings that he broke the bank’s ethics rules, in a move directors hope will satisfy US concerns about due process.

In a statement late on Wednesday, the board said the bank president would have until close of business on Friday to make “final comments” on the draft findings of a panel that investigated his role in awarding a pay and promotion package to his girlfriend Shaha Riza.