Five major banks from the “BRICS” nations have teamed up to jointly conduct research on distributed ledger technology, commonly known as blockchain.

BRICS is an acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

The banks – State Corporation Vnesheconombank, Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social-BNDES, Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank), China Development Bank (CDB), and Development Bank of Southern Africa Limited (DBSA) – have signed an agreement on the collaborative DLT research, according to a press release. The document was signed at the 10th BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mikhail Poluboyarinov, First Deputy Chairman - Member of the Board of Vnesheconombank, said that the agreement will allow the participating banks to study the applications of innovative technologies in infrastructure finance and bank products optimization

"Vnesheconombank works with the development banks of BRICS countries in a range of key areas, including financial cooperation, developing credit financing in national currencies and implementation of innovations. This joint work opens new opportunities for Russian exporters, operators of large industrial projects, recipients of investments,” Poluboyarinov said.

Last year, Vnesheconombank established a blockchain competence centre, which focuses on exploring innovative technologies, developing platforms for their use in government organisations, and on training specialists. In February 2018, the Government of Kaliningrad region is collaborating with Vnesheconombank (VEB) on a blockchain pilot project in the field of social payments.