BRICS nations plan to create a money-transferring network competing with the SWIFT international payment system, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov says. 

Speaking to TASS news agency on Thursday, Siluanvo said the creation of an alternative to SWIFT will be discussed within the BRICS next year.

Talking to reporters at the Moscow Financial Forum, he said a number of BRICS countries had already developed their own payment systems.

“We are trying to implement our financial information transmission system. Other BRICS countries are either creating their own systems or have their own systems. Therefore, for now, this issue is a topic of discussion,” he said.

The Russian official said the economic bloc was looking for ways to replace international payment systems with mechanisms that will help promote trade between member states.

“This is on the agenda of next year’s meeting at the level of financial authorities and administrations of the BRICS member countries. It will be one of the standing issues. Today, Russia is rebuilding all relations from the West to the Southeast, and this trend will continue,” Siluanov explained.

The move comes as BRICS nations, namely, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — which have complained about the Americans’ use of the US currency for politico-economic influence over other nations, damaging their economies– continue their de-dollarization efforts aimed at promoting trading in the economic bloc.

China has previously launched the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) in 2015 to promote the use of Chinese currency RMB in international trade.

Currently, more than 4,200 banking institutions in 182 countries and regions around the world use the CIPS payment system either directly or through an institution besides the two primarily involved in the transaction.