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Eight NATO allies, including Türkiye, along with Ukraine, announced on July 7 their intention to establish a new global defense bank aimed at supporting allied rearmament efforts, in a joint declaration issued on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara.
Türkiye, Canada, Albania, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania and Ukraine said in a joint written statement that they intend to establish the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB).
The bank, to be headquartered in Canada, is expected to begin operations as early as 2027.
"We, the leaders of Canada, Albania, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Türkiye and Ukraine, meeting at the NATO Summit in Ankara, today announce our shared intention to establish the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank," the declaration said.
"At a time when Allies are increasing defence investment, expanding industrial capacity and accelerating production of critical capabilities, we recognize the need to mobilize public and private capital at scale to support our defense, security and resilience priorities," the joint statement noted.
The declaration stated that the successful negotiation of the DSRB's founding Articles of Agreement in Montreal established the framework to move forward. The bank is designed to expand access to capital, lower financing costs, and support the expansion of industrial capacity across its member states.
Additionally, the founding countries emphasized that the institution is intended to complement, rather than duplicate, existing national and multilateral efforts aimed at boosting defense production.
Speaking about the project at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stated that the DSRB "will open the way for investments, strengthen our defense industry base and provide Canada and our allies the capacity needed to overcome the challenges of a more dangerous and divided world."
On X, Carney described the bank as a game-changing institution designed to mobilize and deploy private capital faster for collective defense security, noting that eight additional allies and partners had agreed to help Canada establish it.
Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne shared on X that the announcement represents the first steps toward an institution that will mobilize capital, strengthen the industrial base, and support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) scaling up to meet current demands.
Similarly, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand wrote on X that the bank would help Canada and its allies unlock necessary capital for SMEs, strengthen transnational supply chains, and ensure the supply of military materiel meets growing demands, while extending thanks to the eight partner countries.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics also expressed pride on X regarding Latvia's role as a founding member, stating that the bank will provide the vital resources needed to mobilize defense investments and bolster collective security.
The fact that Canada is the only G7 country among the DSRB's nine founding members has prompted analysts to question whether the bank's economic power and capacity could remain limited.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand told Reuters the bank would remain open to new members.
Speaking to Reuters, Linus Terhorst, an analyst at the U.K.-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), offered a mixed assessment of the project,
"This is a start, but they might have expected to see support from bigger European players," he said, adding that the founding countries could in principle move forward with their current commitments.
The founding countries aim to raise approximately $134 billion to contribute to allied defense investments. For the project to proceed, each country must have its plans for the bank approved domestically.
Separately, Canada and the UK said their respective defense financing initiatives should develop "in a coherent and mutually supportive way," in a joint statement by Carney and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued on the sidelines of the summit.
"Canada and the United Kingdom recognize the shared challenge facing like-minded partners in scaling defense industrial capacity, strengthening resilience, and supporting deterrence and defense," the statement said, welcoming growing allied interest in multilateral approaches to defense financing and procurement.
The two countries said the initiatives "have the potential to support investment in defense industrial capacity, improve coordination across allies, and enhance the availability and interoperability of capabilities," and could operate in parallel.
They said efforts by countries backing the DSRB and the Multilateral Defense Mechanism "have a high degree of complementarity" and, taken together, could improve defense investment across the supply chain.
Canada and the U.K. pledged to continue engaging closely to ensure coherence between the initiatives and encouraged other partners to join the discussions.
Carney separately met Latvian President Rinkevics, announcing that Canada would extend "Operation Reassurance" until 2031 and increase persistently deployed personnel to up to 2,600.
The mission, launched in 2014, is Canada's largest overseas deployment, with personnel based in Central and Eastern Europe to reinforce NATO's eastern flank and deter Russian aggression.
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