LONDON: Britain will not back a high-profile initiative to form a multilateral defence bank, dealing a blow to a plan to create a global state-backed lender to help rearm countries.
For the first time since former NATO security advisers, senior British ex-military personnel and bankers publicly aired detailed plans for the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, or DSRB, last year, Britain has ruled out participation.
“The DSRB proposals are not backed by the UK government, and the representatives of these concepts do not represent the government or any of its ministers. The UK has no plans to join this initiative,” Britain’s Treasury, or finance ministry, said in a statement to Reuters.
It precedes a meeting planned to take place in the City of London on Monday with 41 countries, including Germany, Japan and the United States, as well as Britain, invited to discuss how to fund the proposed bank, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. They declined to be named.
DSRB’s aim is to become a global state-backed defence bank with a triple-A credit rating capable of raising 100 billion pounds ($135 billion) to fund defence projects, particularly in countries that may not have access to cheaper finance.
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