Hansueli Raggenbass, the head of the SNB's supervisory council, told the SonntagsZeitung in an interview he hoped the decision could be taken in the next three months, faster than the government indicated earlier this week. "The cabinet wants to choose the future chairman together with the third member of the board. For the international image, it's important that this happens as fast as possible," he said. The bank council and the Swiss government are under pressure to act quickly to fill Hildebrand's shoes or see the market try to test the central bank's determination to defend the cap it set on the safe-haven franc on Sept. 6 at 1.20 per euro. Raggenbass said the SNB board was still fully able to act as deputy board member Thomas Moser had taken Hildebrand's seat on the three-person policy-setting body on an interim basis. Hildebrand was forced to step down on Monday after emails cast doubt on his earlier claims not to have known about a lucrative dollar trade made by his wife three weeks before he imposed the cap on the soaring Swiss franc. An opinion poll conduted by the SonntagsZeitung showed that 76 percent did not believe confidence in the central bank had been hurt by the scandal, with 49 percent saying Hildebrand was right to step down and 41 percent saying he should have stayed. The bank council appointed Vice Chairman Thomas Jordan as interim SNB chief and he is seen likely to get the job permanently. The council is working on drawing up a list of candidates to fill the third seat on the board and will make a recommendation to the Swiss government which makes the final appointment. Raggenbass said the new board member would have to bring international expertise to the job to replace Hildebrand's strong experience in this area. The NZZ am Sonntag newspaper said one candidate was emerging as a possible favourite: Fritz Zurbruegg, the director of the Swiss finance department who previously worked as an executive director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The newspaper cited support for his candidacy from both the centre-left Social Democrats and the right-wing Swiss People's Party, which helped fell Hildebrand by passing on bank details from a whistleblower about his wife's trade. Aymo Brunetti, the government's chief economist who has also been named as a possible candidate, declined to comment on the speculation in an interview with the SonntagsBlick newspaper.