Five major banking institutions from the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the development of distributed ledger technology (DLT).

The Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), the State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank), the Export-Import Bank of India, the China Development Bank, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) will all participate in the study of DLT technology like blockchain, "in the interests of the development of the digital economy."

In Brazil, the BNDES has been leading related initiatives such as an acceleration scheme focusing on technologies like blockchain and an MoU with the German Development Bank on a partnership around the improvement of blockchain software TruBudget.

The BRIC-level MoU signed at the 10th International BRICS Summit in Johannesburg last month, was celebrated by the participating countries, all of whom had already been working on their own blockchain projects.

The First Deputy Chairman of Russia's Vnesheconombank, Mikhail Poluboyarinov, said the current agreement "allows the development banks of BRICs countries to study the applications of innovative technologies in infrastructure finance and bank products optimization."

"We believe that this work will contribute to our cooperation in adapting to the evolving internet economy," the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs added, in an official statement.