French Foreign Minister Christine Lagarde says the world needs a new financial system based on several multiple currencies.

She said her country would help make the transition to a new system. Lagarde made those comments at a meeting of the G20 financial ministers over the weekend.

The French foreign minister added that she wants to see less need for countries to accumulate large foreign reserves.

France has said in the past it wants the international system to rely less on the American dollar.

China now has the second largest economy only to the U.S. China acquired foreign exchange reserves of over $2.5 trillion on the back of its sustained trade surpluses and foreign fund inflows.

Washington has said the build-up of China's economy reflects an unfair undervaluation of the yuan, but Beijing has rejected that claim.