Britain will not join Canada-led defence bank
Britain will not join the Canada-led Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, Canada and Britain said in a joint statement released Sunday. Britain will instead work toward a separate defence procurement entity, meaning a body for buying military goods and services.
The two governments said they had mutually concluded that it is best to develop two distinct but complementary institutions that work in partnership. The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, or DSRB, is a Canadian-headquartered bank focused on providing low-cost capital. Britain's initiative focuses on procurement. Reuters had reported on Oct. 25, citing a source familiar with the matter, that Britain would not join.
The idea for the DSRB was first proposed in 2024, and Canada was named as its host country in April. Its founding countries are Canada, Albania, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine. Britain observed the April negotiations in Montreal that set out the bank's charter, or founding agreement.
Over the summer, British and Canadian officials spent much of their time negotiating a possible merger of the DSRB with Britain's Multilateral Defence Mechanism. Those talks broke down. The British mechanism has four committed countries: Britain, the Netherlands, Finland and Poland. It is working toward being set up by 2027.
The question of British membership has a longer history. In September 2025, Britain's Treasury told Reuters it had ruled out joining the DSRB initiative. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met British Prime Minister Andy Burnham at Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool on Sept. 16. In the same week, Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne met British Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey in London to discuss Britain joining the bank. Earlier, Canada had hoped Britain could reconsider under Mr. Burnham, according to Reuters.
The bank is now working toward being operational by next year. According to The Globe and Mail, citing two Canadian sources, a charter-signing ceremony is set for the last week of November.
