The debate about the benefits and the risks brought both to People’sRepublic of China and to the other participant countries by theBelt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been gaining momentum in theacademic and in the political landscapes. We argue that the BRIis the main pillar of the new financial institutionalism proposed byChina to redefine the current global financial architecture and that,consequently, the initiative needs to be considered in that context.This paper (i) reviews the timeline that led to this Chinese-led newfinancial institutionalism, (ii) proposes two theoretical frameworksto define the concept of multilateral financial statecraft and of newfinancial institutionalism led by China, and (iii) enumerates the maindifferences and similarities observed between this new financialinstitutionalism and the one dominated by the Bretton Woods-relatedinstitutions that gradually emerged after World War II, such asthe International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, theMarshall Plan, and the Asian Development Bank.