Canada – which hosted multilateral negotiations on the Charter of the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) – will also be the host nation for the bank’s headquarters, with the unanimous support of participating jurisdictions.
According to a news release from Canada’s finance department, François-Philippe Champagne, finance and national revenue minister; David McGuinty, national defence minister; and Anita Anand, foreign affairs minister, welcomed the support.
“Canada is the right home for this new initiative,” said David Pierce, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s vice president for government relations, in a statement. “In a world where conflict is an ever present concern, we are grateful our allies have seen the merit in this move.”
According to a media release from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC), Ontario’s businesses and universities supported Toronto as the DSRB’s global headquarters.
“Toronto is the natural home for this institution,” said Daniel Tisch, the OCC’s president and chief executive officer. “It brings together the financial depth, global connectivity, and institutional credibility to deliver on the Bank’s mission.”
“With a world-class talent pipeline and leading research capacity, Ontario is well positioned to support the Bank’s work in finance, engineering, cybersecurity, AI, and advanced manufacturing,” added Steve Orsini, president and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities.
In the federal government’s news release, the three ministers acknowledged the progress still needed to create the DSRB. They confirmed Canada’s commitment to collaborating with its international partners on the next steps, now that the negotiations in Montreal have wrapped up.
“We are very pleased with the progress made during recent negotiations in Montréal to establish the Defence, Security, and Resilience Bank,” Champagne said in the news release. “These negotiations are a crucial step in taking the DSRB from idea to reality and launching this new defence-focused multilateral bank.”
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The news release explained that the planned multilateral institution will seek to help small- and medium-sized enterprises and member governments close financial gaps by offering financing for defence, security, and resilience initiatives across supply chains.
“Canada is working with allies and partners to establish the Defence, Security, and Resilience Bank—an ambitious initiative to mobilize private capital at scale, deliver long-term, low-cost financing, and accelerate defence production,” Anand said in the news release.
Canada’s defence plan in its 2025 budget includes over $80 billion in investments, as well as a defence industrial strategy launched last Feb. 17.
“This initiative will enable faster, more targeted investments, strengthen critical capacity, and support a more resilient and responsive defence industrial base —for Canada and our Allies,” McGuinty said in the news release.
“We applaud the government for their initiative and winning the bid to locate the bank here,” Pierce said. “We hope to see more details and confirmation soon because it’s going to be all hands on deck to get this right.”