President of the Russian Federation Council (Russian Parliament) Valentina Matvienko said that the BRICS group of emerging economies is moving towards an independent digital payment platform called BRICS Bridge.
The platform could reduce its dependence on Western institutions, especially in the context of Russia being subject to numerous sanctions and cut off from the international payment system SWIFT.
TASS quoted President of the Russian Federation Council Valentina Matvienko as saying that the BRICS digital payment platform is making steady progress.
The creation of an independent BRICS Bridge financial payment platform an independent shared payment system on a solid shared platform is being discussed in BRICS. I have discussed with both the Russian Central Bank and the Russian Ministry of Finance. Everything is going well," said Matvienko.
The Russian Senate president stressed that the initiative is also being discussed with colleagues from the Central Banks and the Ministries of Finance of all BRICS countries, including new members. She said Russia - as the current BRICS chair - is monitoring the initiative.
If successful, it would be a global blockbuster, in the best sense, Matvienko said.
The Chairman of the Russian Federation Council predicted that this issue will be discussed at the BRICS heads of state summit in Kazan, Russia next October.
Maybe it will be approved then, or at least the discussions will lead to a decision on when and what format should be perfected. That is, this is no longer just an idea but is improving in practice, Matvienko emphasized.
Faced with sanctions and being cut off from SWIFT, the Russian Central Bank has established its own payment system and has now been applied by many countries. Matvienko optimistically commented: "There is always light at the end of the tunnel".
Alexander Babakov, Deputy President of the Russian State Duma (Russian House of Representatives), recently highlighted the need for a BRICS alternative to the SWIFT payment system to reduce dependence on Western institutions and simplify non-dollar transactions.
Meanwhile, BRICS is also reviewing Iran's proposal to link all payment systems of member states, strengthen financial sovereignty with infrastructure that can withstand sanctions.
Discussions include integrating financial markets, using national currencies for payments and new mechanisms for general payments - according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko.
