Québec’s financial sector supports Montréal’s bid to host the headquarters of the DSR Bank

The Right Honourable Mark Carney

Subject: Quebec financial sector’s endorsement of Montréal’s bid to host the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) headquarters

Dear Prime Minister,

On behalf of the financial institutions and ecosystem leaders of Québec who sign below, we wish to express our full support for Montréal’s bid to host the headquarters of the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB).

The unanimous decision of the participating nations, at the conclusion of the negotiations held in Montréal on April 29, to designate Canada as host country of the DSRB marks a historic milestone. It positions our country at the heart of collective financing for the defence and resilience of allied nations. We commend your government’s leadership in steering these negotiations, as well as the central role entrusted to the Business Development Bank of Canada. The decision now ahead – the choice of host city within Canada – will determine the speed at which this institution can deliver on its mission.

The choice of host city will directly shape the speed of the DSRB’s deployment, its credibility on international capital markets, its ability to attract the talent required to fulfil its mission, and the creation of numerous specialized jobs that the headquarters will generate. On these counts, Montréal offers the strongest conditions in the country and we, as leaders of Quebec’s financial sector, are best placed to attest to it.

A financial sector ready to move

Montréal’s financial centre brings together all the functions and capabilities required to rapidly stand up a multilateral bank operating on international capital markets. The signatory institutions are collectively committed to offering the DSRB:

• Swift ramp-up with trusted partners: National Bank, La Caisse, Desjardins and the Quebec operations of all major Canadian banks stand ready to support the DSRB from day one, making available their teams, infrastructure, and domestic and international networks.
• Immediate capital mobilization: capabilities for structuring and distributing bond issuances, mobilizing institutional capital, and supporting co-financing and risk-sharing mechanisms are in place and operational. Quebec’s pool of institutional capital (pension funds, labour-sponsored funds, asset managers, insurance companies…) ranks among the deepest in North America.
• Scalable market access: Montréal’s financial centre is continuously connected to European, U.S. and Indo-Pacific markets, both through the presence of international institutions (Société Générale, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, Morgan Stanley, Amundi) and through the global reach of major Canadian institutions.

Recognized expertise in risk management, sustainable finance, AI and cybersecurity

Three distinctive strengths of Montréal’s financial centre are directly aligned with the DSRB’s mandate:

• The Montréal Exchange, North America’s benchmark platform for derivatives and market-risk management, offers the DSRB an unrivalled operational environment for hedging, liquidity management and the structuring of complex financial products.
• Montréal is one of North America’s leading sustainable-finance centre. The local ecosystem hosts the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the global anchor for financial disclosure standards built on the foundation laid by the Financial Stability Board. This normative infrastructure is directly compatible with the eligibility, traceability and credibility requirements expected by international investors, and particularly well suited to the resilience-focused issuances the DSRB will be called upon to structure.
• Montréal is the world’s leading hub for applied artificial intelligence, anchored by Mila, IVADO and Scale AI. These capabilities – directly transferable to the operations of a multilateral institution dedicated to defence and resilience – are particularly relevant to early detection of systemic risks, monitoring of defence supply chains and modelling of resilience scenarios.

A multilateral environment unmatched in Canada

No other Canadian metropolitan area combines, as Montréal does, a mature financial sector with nearly 130,000 professionals, a world-class defence industrial base (CAE, Bombardier Defense, L3Harris MAS, Thales Canada, Lockheed Martin Canada, Rheinmetall Canada…) supported by a deep ecosystem of SMEs that the DSRB’s mandate is precisely designed to serve, and an established status as a multilateral hub. The presence in Montréal of 68 international organizations, including six United Nations offices and the NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence – the only NATO-accredited centre in Canada – offers the DSRB a diplomatic and operational environment directly aligned with its mission.

A collective commitment from the financial sector

Quebec’s financial sector stands united behind Montréal’s bid. The signatory institutions are committed to mobilizing their expertise, networks and resources to support the DSRB’s establishment, facilitate its access to targeted markets, and support its ramp-up in the shortest possible timeframe. All Canadian banks that have joined the DSRB Development Group as partner banks operate full-scale platforms in Montréal. This commitment adds to the support already expressed by the Government of Québec, the City of Montréal, and the city’s academic and business communities.

Prime Minister, the choice of host city is not a mere balancing act among Canadian metropolitan areas. It is a strategic decision that will determine how quickly the DSRB can deliver on its mission for member nations and their defence SMEs. In this regard, Montréal offers the most effective combination of financial depth, multilateral capacity and industrial anchoring and we are ready.

Please accept, Prime Minister, the assurance of our highest consideration.

 

Jacques Deforges

Chief Executive Officer, Finance Montréal

 

Signatories

Charles Emond

President and Chief Executive Officer, La Caisse

Denis Dubois

President and Chief Executive Officer, Mouvement Desjardins

Laurent Ferreira

President and Chief Executive Officer, National Bank of Canada

Grégoire Baillargeon

President, BMO Financial Group, Quebec, and Vice Chair, BMO Capital Markets

Denis Ricard

President and Chief Executive Officer, Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services

Janie C. Béïque

President and Chief Executive Officer, Fonds de solidarité FTQ

Bicha Ngo

President and Chief Executive Officer, Investissement Québec

Anabelle Blondeau

President and Chief Executive Officer, Optimum Financial Group

Cc: The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue