By Maria Martinez and Iain Withers
BERLIN/LONDON, Dec 3 – The European Rearmament Bank (ERB), an initiative to create a state-backed lender for European defence projects, has proposed merging with the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) to consolidate efforts and bolster their appeal to governments.
“I’ve written to them (DSRB) last week to say that we would like to merge the two teams because it’s not helpful to have two organizations both talking about creating a multilateral bank and competing with each other,” Guy de Selliers, a leader of the ERB initiative, said on Tuesday at an event in Berlin.
DSRB, when reached by Reuters on Wednesday, said it doesn’t comment on speculation.
Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan lead a group of half a dozen banks that support DSRB, according to the multilateral lender’s website.
Both ERB and DSRB aim to create an institution with a AAA rating — the highest — to rapidly mobilize capital for European defence procurement, but differ on membership and lending terms.
ERB focuses on European NATO members and lending at market rates. DSRB has sought a broader membership including Canada.
Talks with governments are ongoing, but so far only the Polish government has given endorsement to the initiative, the ERB leader said in Berlin.
A spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“We’ve talked to lots of governments and we’ve had very positive responses. Nobody’s been able to come up with a fatal flaw,” de Selliers said.
France has praised the proposal but expressed concerns about sovereignty and financial capacity, but the team said it hopes the country will “come around,” he said.
A spokesperson for the French Finance Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Maria Martinez in Berlin and Iain Withers in London; additional reporting by Inti Landauro and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk. Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Anousha Sakoui)
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