# The New Development Bank, in outline

Explainer · Updated 2026-09-07 · Third in the reading path  
Canonical: https://whatisbrics.org/articles/new-development-bank/

The New Development Bank (NDB) is a multilateral development bank created by the original BRICS members. Leaders agreed to establish it at the Fortaleza summit in July 2014. The Articles of Agreement entered into force in 2015. Headquarters are in Shanghai.

## What it is chartered to do

Mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable-development projects in member and other emerging economies. Authorized capital in the Articles of Agreement is $100 billion, with $50 billion initially subscribed, equally among the five founding members. Those are treaty numbers, not performance statistics.

**Do not invent a loan total.** Take dollar figures from the bank’s latest official release and date the citation.

Local-currency lending is stated policy and part of the [de-dollarization debate](https://whatisbrics.org/articles/de-dollarization/). Market reaction: [globalmarketupdates.com](https://globalmarketupdates.com), [usmarketupdates.com](https://usmarketupdates.com).

## Who belongs to the bank

Founding members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. Other states have later joined on the bank’s own track (public reporting in the 2020s has included Bangladesh, the UAE, Egypt, and Uruguay as prospective/accepted). Bank membership can diverge from [political BRICS membership](https://whatisbrics.org/articles/membership-evolution/). Dilma Rousseff became president in 2023.

The NDB is not the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, not a sanctions-evasion utility by charter, and not proof of a BRICS currency. Sanctions questions: [usforeignpolicy.org](https://usforeignpolicy.org). Policy arguments: [bricspolicy.org](https://bricspolicy.org).