Kamath to head new BRICS bank

India has named private banker K. V. Kamath as the first head of a new development bank being set up by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group of emerging market economies, Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi told reporters in New Delhi on Monday.

The BRICS nations agreed to set up the $100 billion institution last July in a step intended to reshape the Western-dominated international financial system.

It was agreed that the New Development Bank, which will fund infrastructure projects in developing nations, would be based in Shanghai. The agreement specified that it would be headed by an Indian national for the first five years, followed by a Brazilian and then a Russian.