The former chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Lamont of Lerwick, warned yesterday that if it ever came to pass, a new BRICS banking system would not only render the international sanctions useless, but would also pose “major threat to the Western-led financial system.”
“While the idea of a BRICS payments system, which was announced by Mr Putin at the Kazan Brics conference, may seem rather fanciful and a long way off, nevertheless it needs to be taken seriously,” Lord Lamont told the House of Lords.
Last month at the latest BRICS summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a plan by the bloc’s countries to create a separate rival banking payments system and to de-dollarise the world economy.
“If it ever happened, it would be a major threat to the Western-led financial system, but above all it would make it impossible for the West to impose sanctions on countries like Russia, China or Iran or other malign countries,” Lord Lamont warned.
He also raised concerns with regard to the reports that this rival banking payments system could be based on cross-border payments platform ‘Project mBridge’s technology developed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
Denying any link between BRICS and BIS, its general manager Agustin Carstens categorically rejected these reports, stressing that “mBridge is not the ‘Brics bridge’”.
“mBridge was not created to cater to the needs of the BRICS. It was put together to satisfy broad central bank necessities. And the BIS does not operate with any countries, nor can its products be used by any countries that are subject to sanctions,” he added.
