Russia and China are looking into setting up a bilateral currency deal, aiming to settle their trade with the rouble and Chinese yuan rather than the dollar and the euro.

According to senior government officials from the two countries, such a deal would see Russian banks encouraged to set up outlets in China and vice versa.

China's vice-premier, Zhang Dejiang, and Russian deputy prime minister Aleksandr Zhukov unveiled the proposals during a business summit held during Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin's visit to China this week.

Reports from Dow Jones note that both China and Russia are concerned about the global financial system's reliance on the US dollar, and want fairer representation from developing economies in institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

At a Moscow meeting in June, Russian and Chinese leaders first suggested they might aim to cut reliance on the euro and US dollar to denominate trade in yuan and roubles.

China has already started trials for setting trade with Hong Kong in yuan , though little notable progress has been made so far.

This week's Beijing meetings attended by Putin are focused on bolstering economic relations between the two countries.