The BRICS New Development Bank is up and running. A year ago, it was just a concept. The announcement was made on the eve of the start of the BRICS leaders' summit in Ufa, Russia.

The launch of the New Development Bank is topic number one at this year's BRICS leaders' summit in Russia. Before the meeting even began, the bank appointed its president and governing members. The management team hopes it will start financing its first projects before the end of the year.

"We expect to arrive next week in Shanghai. That's where our headquarters will be based," said Zhu Xian, vice president of New Development Bank.

The Development Bank was created in part to reduce Western dominance of global financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"It is difficult now to project forward and say in 5, 10 or 20 years time what shape this institution, BRICS, will take. At this stage it is fair to say that it is a representative formation of the developing countries. The intention is to complement the existing institutions," said Leslie Maasdrop, vice president of New Development Bank.

The central aim is to finance infrastructure projects in member countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Its $100 billion capital will be equally distributed among the member states. At some later point, the bank is expected to fund projects outside of the BRICS countries.

The New Development Bank's currency reserve could perform a function similar to that of the IMF, in case one of the member countries is hit by a financial crisis. China will contribute $41 billion; India, Brazil and Russia will contribute $18 billion apiece, and $5 billion will come from South Africa.

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