On June 22, President Vladimir Putin said that the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - are working to establish a new global reserve currency.
The creation of an international reserve currency based on the basket of currencies of our countries is being resolved, RT quoted Mr. Putin as saying at the BRICS business forum.
According to the Russian president, member states are also developing a reliable common payment network for international payments to reduce dependence on the Western financial system. BRICS countries are also promoting the use of local currencies in mutual trade.
Accordingly, President Putin said that banks from BRICS countries can freely connect with Russia's SPFS payment system (System for Transfer of Financial Messages) - an alternative to the international payment system SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication - global interbank financial telecommunications association).
Russias SPFS system is ready to connect banks from five countries. Meanwhile, the use of Russia's Mir payment system is being expanded to many countries, Putin said at the BRICS business forum.
SPFS has a similar function to SWIFT and allows messaging between financial institutions in the same format. It was created by the Russian Central Bank in 2014 as an alternative to the SWIFT system, when Moscow faced Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.
In April this year, Governor of the Russian Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina said that most of Russia's lending institutions and 52 foreign institutions from 12 countries had access to SPFS and that the regulatory agency would keep the identities of the members of the payment system confidential.
