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The first BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' meeting under India's 2026 chairship was held at Jaipur on 12 August 2026, continuing into 13 August.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra co-chaired it, under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'.
Members discussed making cross-border payments faster and cheaper, including linking national fast payment systems and central bank digital currencies, and settling more trade in local currencies.
Today a payment between two BRICS economies is usually routed through correspondent banks abroad and converted twice, with the US dollar acting as a vehicle currency.
The talks fed into the 18th BRICS Summit, hosted by India at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 12-13 September 2026.
Few banks hold accounts in each other's currencies, so a payment travels through an intermediary bank abroad that holds both. A rand-to-rupee payment is converted rand to dollar to rupee, paying a fee and a foreign-exchange margin at each step.
Simple Analogy: Two neighbours posting letters to each other via a sorting office in another country.
| Feature | Correspondent banking today | Linked national payment systems |
|---|---|---|
| Path of the money | Through one or more intermediary banks, usually in London or New York | Directly between the two countries' payment systems |
| Currency conversion | Twice, via a vehicle currency such as the US dollar | Once, or settled in local currencies |
| Cost and speed | Fees at each hop and forex margins paid twice | Fewer intermediaries, lower cost, near-instant transfer |
| Difficulty | Established and deeply embedded | Each link is bilateral, so coverage scales slowly |
Carries secure payment instructions between financial institutions — a messaging network, not a settlement system; overseen by the National Bank of Belgium with G-10 central banks
The 'central bank of central banks'; its data documented the shrinking of correspondent banking relationships
The BRICS-founded multilateral development bank; its membership has expanded to 11 countries with the accession of Colombia and Uzbekistan
General Awareness > Payment systems, international finance and central banking
GS Paper II > India and international groupings; GS Paper III > Indian Economy > External sector and financial architecture
The Fortaleza Declaration', recently in the news, is related to the affairs of
Answer: BRICS
Consider the following statements: 1. New Development Bank has been set up by APEC. 2. The headquarters of New Development Bank is in Shanghai. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 2 only
A widely held third currency used to convert between two others when no direct market exists — typically the US dollar in emerging-market trade.
A bank that holds accounts for other banks and executes payments on their behalf across borders.
Central bank digital currency — a digital form of sovereign money; linking CBDCs is one of the options BRICS is exploring for settlement.
Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' meeting, the ministerial format of a grouping's finance track.