BRICS Bank

The BRICS Bank is the colloquial name for the New Development Bank (NDB), a multilateral development bank established by the five original BRICS states — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It was created by the Agreement on the New Development Bank signed at the Sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, on 15 July 2014, and formally entered into force in July 2015. Its headquarters are in Shanghai, with a regional office in Johannesburg.

The NDB was launched with an initial authorized capital of USD 100 billion and initial subscribed capital of USD 50 billion, divided equally among the five founders — a deliberate departure from the weighted voting structures of the World Bank and IMF, which BRICS leaders have long criticized as Western-dominated. Each founding member holds an equal share, and the presidency rotates among them. India's K.V. Kamath served as the first President (2015–2020).

The bank's mandate is to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS countries and other emerging economies. It issues loans in member currencies as well as US dollars, and has financed transport, clean energy, water, and urban development projects. During the COVID-19 pandemic it also extended emergency assistance loans.

Membership has expanded beyond the founders: Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Uruguay have joined as non-founding members, and others have been in accession processes. The NDB is distinct from the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), a separate USD 100 billion BRICS currency-swap facility also established in 2014 to provide liquidity support.

Analysts often situate the NDB alongside the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as part of a broader effort by emerging powers to build parallel financial institutions, though the NDB remains smaller in lending volume than established multilaterals.