BRICS
BRICS is an intergovernmental group established in 2006 by the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, and the People’s Republic of China, with the Republic of South Africa coming onboard in December 2010.
On 1 January 2024, four new members joined the BRICS community: the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. A year after, on 6 January 2025, the Republic of Indonesia also joined BRICS as a full member. In addition, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia currently holds the status of an invited country.
At the XVI BRICS Summit that took place on
Member states take turns holding the BRICS presidency for one calendar year. All decisions are made by consensus.
In 2024, BRICS was chaired by the Russian Federation. Throughout the year, the member countries cooperated in crucial areas of the central banks’ activities: payment, settlement and depository infrastructure, sustainable development financing, information security in finance and credit, financial literacy and financial inclusion, and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement. The Kazan Declaration of the XVI BRICS Summit reflects the key results of this joint work.
Under the BRICS Finance Track, the Bank of Russia works together with the other BRICS central banks on three levels:
- Expert working groups of the BRICS central banks;
- BRICS Finance and Central Bank Deputies meetings; and
- BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings.
Finance Track: areas of cooperation between the BRICS central banks
- Improving the CRA mechanism.
- Conducting CRA Test Runs with alternative eligible currencies.
- Issuing BRICS Economic Bulletins.
- Maintaining regular information exchange on macroeconomic issues between the BRICS countries.
- Establishing the BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative (BCBPI) for performing cross-border settlements with use of central bank digital currencies (if applicable), non-cash funds, and digital financial assets (if applicable).
- Exchanging experience with regard to the ISO 20022 standard implementation, and oversight and monitoring in the national payment systems.
- Developing settlements in the national currencies.
- Conducting cross-border cyber drills for the BRICS countries.
- Maintaining information exchange between the BRICS countries regarding relevant cyberattacks via a shared template.
- Updating the BRICS E-Booklet on national legislation.
- Issuing Best Practices Compendiums covering information security issues.
- Studying various aspects of how regulatory sandboxes function in the BRICS countries.
- Studying the BRICS countries’ progress in terms of research and development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
- Exploring automated cross-border identification systems.
- Studying central banks’ experience of implementing AI technologies and general use of AI in finance.
- Conducting joint studies in the area of sustainable development and climate transition.
- Holding joint training events and seminars.
- Exploring the option of establishing a common settlement and depositary infrastructure for the BRICS countries.