Canada intends to announce about 10 founding countries of a global defense bank at the NATO summit in Turkey next week, Canada's chief negotiator Isabelle Hudon told Reuters on Thursday, UNN reports.
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is promoting the Defense, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) as part of his this year's call for a "middle power alliance" to combat what he sees as the collapse of the traditional US-led world order.
"We set the NATO summit as our deadline... We intend to announce a list of founding countries," said Isabelle Hudon, Canada's chief negotiator for launching the multilateral initiative and CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada, in an interview.
The bank's goal is to strengthen allied countries' defense by raising up to 100 billion pounds ($133 billion) in cheap financing.
Hudon said the initial list of countries will likely be European, aside from Canada, but declined to name them. She cautioned that the announcement is not guaranteed and depends on final negotiations with allies, particularly regarding their capital commitments, but said the project has momentum.
"My prime minister said we should not strive for perfection before launching this initiative, that we should bring together countries ready to become founding members, and then membership will remain open," Hudon said.
The project's fate remains uncertain without support from countries critical to achieving a triple-A credit rating.
The DSRB has held productive talks with South Korea, and there is a 50 percent chance it will join, possibly later, Hudon said, adding that no other G7 country is currently close to signing on. South Korea's finance ministry previously told Reuters it was reviewing the proposal.
"We are hopefully trying to prepare something for the NATO summit, but there are many moving parts," said John Fragos, press secretary for Canada's finance minister, adding that the bank's benefits are "widely understood."
So far, only Luxembourg has publicly joined Canada, and it will become the bank's European base. Carney said on Friday there is a "critical mass" of countries intending to join, without naming them.
The DSRB asks lead countries to pay proportionally to the size of their economies, Hudon said. "Capital is the most difficult part of the decision," she added.
Proportional contributions could see Canada contribute up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion), with smaller countries paying between 500 and 750 million euros, a source familiar with the matter said.
Britain has resisted joining the DSRB, preferring to implement its own defense financing project, known as MDM, together with the Netherlands and Finland, but has explored ways to align or merge it with the DSRB, two sources said.
Carney told reporters on Friday he looks forward to discussing the bank with the future UK prime minister. Former Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is the favorite to replace Keir Starmer.
Germany also previously kept its distance, but a finance ministry spokesperson said it has since joined DSRB talks as an observer and is reviewing the results.
G7 country Italy, as well as Spain, Turkey, Belgium and Ukraine, have analyzed the proposals, several sources said. Turkey's foreign ministry did not immediately comment on its participation, but sources said it is interested.
The Netherlands said it will not participate, with a government spokesperson stating they are fully focused on their MDM initiative with the UK and Finland.
A group of former NATO security advisors, senior ex-military officers and bankers proposed creating the DSRB in 2024.
NATO countries and their allies face growing defense needs related to the war in Ukraine, rising tensions with Russia and concerns over China's military expansion.
In June 2025, NATO leaders agreed to spend 5% of GDP on defense and security-related investments by 2035.
Hudon said it is unlikely that Canada will announce a city for the DSRB next week, as five locations are vying - Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax and Vancouver.
Leading banks, including JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and ING, have joined the project alongside Canadian RBC, BMO, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and TD Bank.