Though still indistinct, the contours of this new currency contingency are nowhere clearer than among the Brics countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), following a decision to create a Brics bank in July.
 

The bank's two key entities – a New Development Bank (NDB) and a Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) – are designed to form a developing world alternative to the two institutional bulwarks of the "dollar zone", the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Brics bank has not disclosed which currencies it intends to use to disburse development funding (through the NDB) and support against short-term liquidity pressures (through the CRA), but given China's status as the world's second-largest economy the renminbi is expected to dominate, officials and analysts say.