Canada Global Defence Bank: Canada is trying to line up about 10 founding countries for a new global defence bank. The plan may be announced at next week’s NATO summit in Turkey, according to the lead Canadian negotiator who spoke to Reuters. The bank is called the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, or DSRB. Prime Minister Mark Carney is backing it as part of his push for an alliance of “middle powers” that can work together as the old U.S.-led world order starts to feel less solid.
The main idea is simple. The bank would help allied countries get cheap money for defence needs. It could raise as much as £100 billion, or about $133 billion. At the start, the group is expected to be mostly European countries, with Canada also inside the circle. If the plan moves ahead, Canada may need to put in as much as €1.5 billion, which is about $1.7 billion. Smaller countries could pay between €500 million and €750 million.
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Isabelle Hudon, who is Canada’s top negotiator on the project and also the head of the Business Development Bank of Canada, said, “We gave ourselves the NATO summit as a deadline … What we are aiming to announce is the list of founding members,”. She also said, “My prime minister said we should not aim for perfection before launching this initiative, that we should rally the countries that are ready to be called founding members, and then the membership will stay open,”.
Who is in?
The project still has a few big hurdles. It needs enough support from countries that can help it win a triple-A credit rating. Without that, the bank may not get the strong financial backing it wants. So far, Canada has only publicly been joined by Luxembourg. Luxembourg will also be the bank’s European base.
Hudon said talks with South Korea have gone well, and she said there is a 50-50 chance it joins. She added it could join later too. South Korea’s Finance Ministry has already said it is reviewing the idea. John Fragos, press secretary for Canada’s finance minister, said, “We’re trying to hopefully tee something up for the NATO summit, but there are a lot of moving pieces,”. He also said the value of the bank was “widely understood.”.
Carney said on Friday that “a critical mass” of countries wants to join, but he did not name them. Hudon said, “Ankara will be an important milestone to see whether there’s critical enough momentum to make this idea work,”. She also said Canada is not likely to announce the host city next week. Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax, and Vancouver are still being looked at.
The Bigger Defence Money Fight
The European Union already has its SAFE programme, which is one reason the new bank must fight for attention. The DSRB wants anchor countries to pay according to the size of their economies. Hudon said, “The capital is the most challenging part of the decision,”.
Britain has not wanted to join so far. It prefers its own defence financing plan called MDM, which it is building with the Netherlands and Finland. Even so, two sources said Britain has looked at joining or merging that plan with the DSRB. Carney said he looked forward to talking about the bank with the incoming British prime minister. Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is the favourite to replace Keir Starmer.
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Germany also stayed away at first, but now a Finance Ministry spokesperson says it has joined the DSRB talks as an observer. Italy, Spain, Turkey, Belgium, and Ukraine have also studied the idea, according to multiple sources. The Netherlands said it is not taking part because it wants to stay focused on the MDM project. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry did not comment right away, though sources said Turkey is interested.
Why Canada Wants a New Defence Bank?
The bank was first proposed in 2024 by former NATO security advisers, senior ex-military officers, and bankers. The timing matters because NATO countries are under more pressure to spend on defence. The war in Ukraine, tensions with Russia, and worries about China’s military growth have pushed that pressure higher.
In June 2025, NATO leaders agreed to spend 5% of GDP on defence and security-related investments by 2035. Europe’s defence push is already changing industry fast, with German factories shifting from cars to tanks and radar. Some countries are also buying more advanced missiles for their F-35 fleets. The old 2% GDP goal no longer feels like the big headline it once was.
Canada says the DSRB would help fill the money gap. It would offer long-term, low-cost loans across the defence supply chain. That would be especially useful for small and medium-sized companies that often struggle to borrow. Major banks are also listed as part of the wider effort.
Those names include JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and ING, along with Canada’s RBC, BMO, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, and TD Bank. Reuters said the project is still moving, but the final list of founding countries is not locked in yet.
