Known as BRICS-Bridge, the idea is to build it up within a year and give countries the ability to carry out cross-border payments with digital platforms that their respective central banks run. With the potential for quicker and more affordable transactions, emerging economies could be tempted away from carrying out business in U.S. dollars, and Western officials are already worried about its ability to hep countries get around sanctions.

Put simply, this initiative would use digital money that is backed by fiat currencies, which would mean that central banks are at the center of cross-border transactions. As a result, no single country would be able to cut off another one, and the need for correspondent banks that use the dollar clearing system would be eliminated.