In the fourth quarter of 2024, we have conducted a review of the institutions listed in the Public Development Banks (PDBs) and Development Financing Institutions (DFIs) database and made consistent efforts to identify qualified institutions that have not yet been included in the database. Based on a rigorous identification and verification process, we have added in four newly identified DFIs and removed four existing institutions. Currently, the PDBs and DFIs database covers a total of 533 institutions from 155 countries and economies.

 

New Additions and Removals

To ensure regular updates to the list of PDBs and DFIs, we closely monitor the membership list of relevant (quasi-) PDB and DFI associations. In this quarter, we compared the list of the Export Credit Agencies from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with the institutions covered in our database. This helped to identify one institution, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), that is qualified as a PDB and DFI and should be added into our database. We also noted that Export Credit Norway (Eksportkreditt, NO20121) has been merged with another Norwegian institution. It is no longer a standalone entity but is now a government agency, part of the Norwegian government. Therefore, it should be removed from our database.

 

Meanwhile, we have maintained regular discussions with colleagues from the development finance industry. Through our communication with the Agricultural Public Development Bank (Agri-PDB) Platform, we identified two of their PDB members - National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) from India and Kredi Garanti Fonu from Turkey - that meet our qualification criteria for PDBs and DFIs and should be added in our database.

 

Furthermore, during the data collection process, we discovered that Banco Multisectorial de Inversiones (BMI, SV19941) has been renamed to be Banco de Desarrollo de El Salvador (BANDESAL, SV19942). They are in fact the same institution. We also noticed that the Insituiçao Financiera de Desenvolvimento (IFD, PT19941) and Sociedade de Investimento S.A. (SPGM, PT20141) have merged into a new bank, namely Banco Português de Fomento, SA. Based on the information collected, we decided to remove SV19941, PT19941 and PT20141 from our database, and add in Banco Português de Fomento, SA (PT20201).

 

Basic information about the four newly added institutions is provided below:

(Please refer to the official PDB and DFI database for more detail.)

 

Quality Control Process

To further verify the potential inclusions and exclusions and ensure the reliability of the global PDBs and DFIs list, we implemented three rounds of quality control. In the first round of quality control, our research specialists conducted thorough investigations and documented detailed supporting evidence by strictly applying operational indicators of the following five qualification criteria:

1)  Being a standalone entity.

2)  Providing fund-reflow-seeking financial instruments as the main products and services.

3)  Funding sources going beyond periodic budgetary transfers.

4)  Having a proactive public policy orientation.

5)  Government steering of corporate strategies.

In the second round of quality control, a peer senior researcher rigorously reviewed the supporting evidence to ensure the accuracy of the identification for each included or excluded institution. In the final round of quality control, (co-) principal investigators from the PKU, AFD, and FERDI team provided the ultimate verification of the updates on the PDBs and DFIs database.

 

Forthcoming Steps

Looking forward, the database team will continue to proactively and rigorously update the list of PDBs and DFIs, including their basic information and financial data. Meanwhile, we are preparing to publish the fifth flagship database report to be launched in the upcoming fifth edition of “Finance in Common Summit” on 26-28 February 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa. We look forward to exploring more opportunities to enhance our database construction and realize the significant development potential of PDBs and DFIs.

 

To learn more, please visit our data visualization website (http://www.dfidatabase.pku.edu.cn/) and download the database for free. For using the information from the database, please cite: Xu, Jiajun, Régis Marodon, Xinshun Ru, Xiaomeng Ren, and Xinyue Wu. 2021. “What are Public Development Banks and Development Financing Institutions? ——Qualification Criteria, Stylized Facts and Development Trends.” China Economic Quarterly International, volume 1, issue 4: 271-294; database DOI：https://doi.org/10.18170/DVN/VLG6SN.

 

We welcome feedback from academia, policymakers, practitioners from PDBs and DFIs, and other stakeholders to provide constructive suggestions and fill gaps in the database. Please contact us at nsedfi@nsd.pku.edu.cn.