The bloc said that they welcome the candidacies from the developing world and want greater representation of developing economies in global financial institutions.

Intra-BRICS trade is about $230 billion and has the potential of more than doubling to $500 billion by 2015. Local-currency settlements will cut the foreign exchange costs for trading participants, which is estimated by business groups to be up to 4 percent of the transaction volume.

While the BRICS countries account for 15 percent of total world exports, in 2011, trade among the BRICS made up only 1.5 percent of global exports, although the figure has already increased fivefold compared with that of 2000.

According to Vladimir Dmitriev, chairman of Vnesheconombank, Russia's development bank, expanding the use of local currencies in settlements will contribute to more transparent pricing.

However, the practice might be constrained by inadequate regulatory systems for foreign exchange in the bloc, which currently promote international payments in dollars or euros, Dmitriev warned.

Chi Fulin, president of the China Institute for Reform and Development, said that providing a line of credit is "a substantial step to strengthen the bloc's economic integration and vital for the establishment of a joint bank.

"The benefit of a BRICS bank will go beyond BRICS to other developing countries," Chi said.

The BRICS bank, together with World Bank and International Monetary Fund, will become part of the changing international financial and monetary regime, Chi said.

Analysts also said that the agreements will be significant in facilitating the wider acceptance of China's currency and boosting commodity and energy deals with Russia and Brazil.

Li Jian, a researcher with the Ministry of Commerce, said in a recently published essay that local currency settlement will quicken the internationalization of the currency.

Ade Onitolo, director of political risk forecasting at London-based Exclusive Analysis, said "in the next decade such arrangements will underpin the growing trade and investment relationships between emerging markets and the progress on making these currencies convertible".

"The initiative reflects a goal of BRICS economies to reduce dependence on the dollar and the euro, but significant progress is about 10 years away," said Onitolo, adding that "it is clear that emerging markets are gradually overtaking developed ones as engines of global growth".

Contact the writers at wujiao@chinadaily.com.cn and fujing@chinadaily.com.cn