Eight of Germany’s leading industry and business associations are urging Berlin to become a founding member of Canada’s proposed multinational defence bank, giving Ottawa a potential boost in its efforts to recruit major economies to join the initiative.

In a joint statement released Thursday, the associations, including the Federation of German Security and Defence Industries (BDSV), the German Aerospace Industry Association, the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and the German Savings Banks Association, called on the German government to take the political and financial steps necessary to join the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB)—or risk losing out. 

The groups urged Berlin to help shape the bank’s governance from the outset and secure opportunities for German companies, while framing membership as an opportunity to “strengthen the transatlantic partnership” between the country and Canada.

The joint appeal builds on an earlier call from BDSV in June for Germany to join the multilateral bank. In an interview, Hans Atzpodien, a managing director at BDSV, linked the renewed effort to Canada’s growing engagement with Europe, including Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent outreach to European leaders.

“It would be good to join [the DSRB] just to do a good friend a favour,” Atzpodien said.

The push comes at a critical moment for Canada’s effort to establish the multilateral lender, which aims to finance defence production and strengthen military supply chains. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced Monday that Canada and eight partner countries will sign the bank’s founding agreement in Luxembourg on Nov. 30, with operations set to begin in 2027.

The announcement followed the U.K.’s decision not to join the DSRB and instead pursue its own defence-financing initiative, the Multilateral Defence Mechanism, despite Carney’s efforts. The two institutions are expected to operate separately but co-operate on financing opportunities.

The EU’s two largest economies, Germany and France, have yet to commit to joining the DSRB, leaving Canada as the only G7 economy among the nine founding partners: Albania, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.

“Germany participated as an observer in the negotiations on the DSRB’s charter. We are currently reviewing outstanding questions,” a spokesperson for Germany’s Federal Ministry of Finance said in a statement. Reuters reported last December that Germany’s finance ministry opposed creating additional financing instruments. 

In an interview with The Logic, German Ambassador to Canada Matthias Lüttenberg said Berlin is still considering its options, and that its decision rests partly on whether other countries join and how the institution ultimately takes shape.

“In the EU, we already have the European Investment Bank, for example, [and] very good conditions,” Lüttenberg said. “So we don’t necessarily need to have another bank, which is always costly in the beginning.” 

Germany, he added, already has a strong sovereign credit rating, which puts it in a different position from other countries backing the project.

The DSRB aims to secure a triple-A credit rating and reportedly raise up to £100 billion ($184 billion) to help NATO and allied countries finance defence projects. It plans to provide low-cost loans and credit guarantees, and support purchases of military goods.

Despite growing interest in the DSRB, participating governments have yet to publicly commit capital. Countries joining as shareholders are reportedly expected to contribute a total of between US$65 million US$70 billion in capital. The eight German associations argued that the bank would complement rather than duplicate existing lenders’ work. Atzpodien said the European Investment Bank’s sustainability restrictions limit its financing of defence production, while Germany’s state-owned development bank KfW only operates nationally.

The associations pointed to the potential financing benefits of joining the DSRB, including guarantees for commercial bank loans for small and medium businesses; low-interest, long-term financing for production expansion; venture capital and equity investments; and support for technological innovation and raw materials.

They also warned that not joining the bank could put German companies at a competitive disadvantage. The rules being negotiated in the DSRB’s charter could give companies in member countries preferential access to bank-financed procurement contracts, according to the joint statement. 

Competitors from participating countries could gain market share at the expense of German manufacturers, the statement reads, potentially weakening the competitiveness of Germany’s defence, aerospace, engineering, technology and banking sectors. 

The DSRB has won backing from Germany’s Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank AG and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, all of which endorsed the initiative in 2025, as well as Canada’s Big Six banks.

The push for German membership also comes as Ottawa and Berlin deepen their defence-industrial ties. Germany was the second-largest destination for Canadian military exports outside the U.S. in 2025, receiving $371.7 million worth of goods and technology, according to federal data. 

The two countries signed an agreement in September to facilitate the exchange of classified defence and security information, while Canada selected German shipbuilder TKMS as its preferred supplier for a submarine procurement described by Ottawa as the largest in Canadian history.

Whether Berlin will join the DSRB before the Nov. 30 founding agreement remains unclear. But Atzpodien remains hopeful, adding that the charter signing should not be seen as a final deadline for German membership.

“If we would not expect that this statement would be heard and recognized, I think then we wouldn’t do it.”

With files from Joanna Smith