Canada's Defense Bank Plan
Canada aims to announce around 10 founding member countries at next week's NATO summit in Turkey. Canada's chief negotiator in this multilateral initiative and CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada, Isabelle Hudon, told Reuters in an interview, "We set the NATO summit as our deadline... Our goal is to announce the list of founding members."
The Defense, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), backed by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, is part of a call for an alliance of "middle powers." Carney launched the initiative, arguing that the traditional U.S.-led world order is fracturing.
The bank's goal is to strengthen allied countries' defense by providing up to £100 billion ($133 billion) in cheap financing. Hudon said the initial list of members, apart from Canada, would consist entirely of European countries, but she declined to name them.
Final Decision Uncertain Until Summit
Hudon noted that the announcement is not certain and depends on final negotiations with allies, particularly an agreement on capital commitments, but said the project is gaining momentum.
Hudon said, "The Prime Minister's instruction was to launch without waiting for perfection and to gather the ready countries as founding members. Membership will then remain open."
South Korea's Participation Uncertain
The support of countries critical for the bank to obtain a triple-A credit rating has not yet materialized. Hudon said productive talks have been held with South Korea, that the chance of participation is "fifty-fifty" and could happen later. She noted that for now, none of the other G7 countries are close to joining.
Canada's Department of Finance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.
