(8 August 2025 – Global) Global lenders are supporting the launch of the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), a new international institution aimed at financing defence needs for NATO nations and allies.
The initiative follows NATO members’ recent pledge to allocate 5 percent of GDP to defence.
Endorsed in July 2025 by UK chancellor Rachel Reeves and defence secretary John Healey, the DSRB will mobilise capital markets to strengthen deterrence, readiness, and collective security. The European Parliament has also backed the project, with the new bank set to fund defence procurement, modernisation, and supply chain resilience across NATO, EU, and Indo-Pacific allies.
Developed by the nonprofit DSRB Development Group, the institution’s design is being shaped in collaboration with bankers, lawyers, defence investment specialists, and policy leaders. Current supporters include Commerzbank, ING, JPMorgan Chase, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, and RBC Capital Markets, who will advise on sovereign lending, capital structuring, risk management, and debt market access. A second wave of partners is expected before formal engagement on the bank’s structure begins in September.
Rob Murray, CEO of the DSRB Development Group and former NATO head of innovation, said, “For too long, we have underestimated the role of capital in defence. The banks stepping up today understand that deterrence demands financial support – and this new institution is being built to deliver it.”
Kevin Reed, president of the DSRB Development Group, added “This is not just about financing defence – it is about redefining deterrence for the modern era. In the twentieth century, deterrence meant industrial mobilisation. In the twenty-first, it means financial partnership.”