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This would involve using national currencies, and eventually digital currencies of central banks, for cross-border transactions, as well as creating an independent global system based on existing national systems for transmitting financial messages — an alternative to SWIFT, said Andrey Kostin, president and chairman of the board of Russia’s VTB bank, in an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the eighth Eastern Economic Forum.

Kostin also proposed developing direct correspondent relations between commercial banks of the Global South countries, forming an alternative cross-border banking network, and setting up a new international depository and settlement hub, which would facilitate investment in developing markets and make it more flexible and secure.

He said he believes that the creation of a financial system of the Global South would enhance the overall stability of the international financial system, which would ultimately benefit the growth of the global economy.

Organized by the Roscongress Foundation, the eighth Eastern Economic Forum is being held in Vladivostok on Sept. 10-13.