BRICS to create US $100b development bank

The leaders of the five Brics countries have signed a deal to create a new $100billion (£58.3 billion) development bank and emergency reserve fund. The Brics group is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The capital for the bank will be split equally among the five participating countries. The bank will have a headquarters in Shanghai, China and the first president for the bank will come from India.

Brazil's President, Dilma Rousseff, announced the creation of the bank at a Brics summit meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil on Tuesday. The halls of Fortaleza's conference centre were full of whispers about whether or not these Brics nations - which often see each other more as rivals than friends - could agree a deal on the development bank.

But challenges were overcome and the announcements were made. Despite their political and economic differences, the one thing these countries do agree upon is that rich countries have too much power in institutions like the World Bank and the IMF.

- BBC