Nine countries commit to global defence bank, Canada says
By Jonathan Spicer, Iain Withers and Marc Jones
ANKARA/LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - Nine countries have committed to a new global defence bank, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday, in a boost for the multilateral drive to help rearm allied nations.
Carney said in a statement at the NATO summit in Turkey's capital Ankara that Albania, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine had all pledged their support to the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), which will be based in Canada.
The roster contained no heavyweight G7 nations other than Canada, potentially limiting the bank's financial firepower, although Canada's foreign minister, Anita Anand, told Reuters it would remain open to new members.
"This is a beginning, but they may have been hoping for the backing of bigger European players. In principle they can get this airborne with these commitments," said Linus Terhorst, an analyst at defence think tank Royal United Services Institute.
The bank's purpose is to bolster the defence of like-minded allied nations by raising up to £100 billion ($134 billion) in cheap financing.
"The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank will unlock investment, strengthen our defence industrial base, and ensure that Canada and our Allies have the capacity to meet the challenges of a more dangerous and divided world together," Carney said.
Canada added that the partner countries had been invited to ratify the plans domestically, with the aim of making the DSRB operational in 2027.
It said Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine had underscored the need for allies to produce defence capabilities at speed and scale.
"The DSRB is designed to expand access to capital, reduce financing costs, and support expansion of industrial capacity across member countries," the nine nations said in a separatejoint statement.
Luxembourg had already publicly pledged its support.
LOAN GUARANTEES
Carney's government has taken charge of promoting DSRB this year and had been aiming to unveil around 10 national backers at the NATO summit, the country's lead negotiator told Reuters last week.
Carney earlier this year called for an alliance of "middle powers" to combat what he sees as the fracturing of the traditional U.S.-led world order.
However, the DSRB has faced challenges securing support from larger European nations. Britain and Germany had previously distanced themselves from the project. But UK finance minister Rachel Reeves said in the country's parliament last month that it was now "working closely" with Canada on the DSRB.
Britain has been promoting its own separate multilateral defence funding programme, which secured the backing of Poland on Monday, adding to support from the Netherlands and Finland.
The DSRB is aiming to secure a triple-A credit rating, allowing it to provide low-interest loans to fund defence projects, particularly for nations and companies that currently struggle to access cheaper finance.
It also plans to provide loan guarantees to private banks to support defence industry scaling.
RISING DEFENCE DEMANDS
A group of former NATO security advisers, senior ex-military personnel and bankers proposed the DSRB in 2024.
NATO nations and their allies are grappling with rising defence demands linked to the war in Ukraine, growing tensions with Russia and concerns about China’s military expansion.
NATO leaders agreed in June 2025 to spend 5% of GDP on defence and security-related investments by 2035.
Top banks, including JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and ING, have joined the project alongside Canada's RBC, BMO, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and TD Bank.
(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Mark Porter)
