The New Development Bank, established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), has announced on May 30 that it plans to issue a yuan-denominated bond.

The announcement came from the bank's vice-president, Paulo Nogueira Batista, who said the bank granted its first loans in April, worth $811 million, to each of the founding members for the renewable energy sector, and then added that the bank is a global one that will lend to countries all over the world, and not just BRICS members.

Batista went on to emphasize that, unlike the World Bank which takes political factors into account, the NDB loan approval process is based purely on the project appraisal, and that developed countries can also join the bank but can hold no more than a 20-percent share, to avoid giving them a dominant role.

The bank was formally opened last July in the city of Shanghai's Expo area, where it has its HQ, with a secretariat in the Lujiazui area and Batista says he expects it to improve its efficiency soon and cut the project approval process from 16 months to six.