In the third quarter of 2026, the Public Development Banks (PDBs) and Development Financing Institutions (DFIs) database has updated the list of eligible institutions. This release incorporates both the addition of new institutions and the adjustment of existing entries, with the provisional total number of tracked institutions standing at 556 from 155 countries.

 

New Additions and Updates

 

Following the Global Research Network Conference (GRN) on Public Development Banks held in Clermont-Ferrand, France in May 2026, the database team continued its post-conference institutional screening work. While the Q2 2026 review covered candidate institutions provided by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and ODI Global, the Q3 update assesses a new batch of South African institutional referrals provided by Stellenbosch University. The latest candidate list includes 43 institutions in total: 9 are already present in the database with consistent records, and 3 has previously been assessed as ineligible. The team conducted full eligibility screening on the remaining 31 candidates.

 

To verify the potential inclusions and ensure the accuracy of the list updates on PDBs and DFIs, 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 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.

 

After rigorous review, 2 institutions were verified to meet the database’s qualification criteria and officially added to the PDBs and DFIs database. The remaining 29 were disqualified primarily for not meeting Criterion 2, i.e., deploying fund-reflow-seeking financial instruments as their main products and services as they mainly offer grants.

 

Basic profiles and corresponding financial data have been collected for the two newly included institutions as follows:

 

No.	Code	PDB&DFI Name	Country	Levels of Ownership	Official Mandate	Total Assets (Millions USD)
1	ZA19962	Eastern Cape Development   Corporation	South Africa	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	116
2	ZA20011	Export Credit Insurance   Corporation of South Africa SOC LTD	South Africa	NATIONAL	EXIM	586

Notes:

[1] Total assets are based on data disclosed for the 2024 fiscal year.

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

 

In the meantime, the collection of basic information and relevant financial indicators for fiscal years 2018–2024 has been completed for the newly added institutions in this round. The quality control procedures applied during the data collection phase are consistent with those used in the qualification assessment process, both adopting a three-round quality control mechanism to ensure the accuracy of the collected data.

 

Beyond new institutional additions, the team also completed a brief review of existing entries in the database to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of institutional information. During the quarterly audit, one Nigerian institution was found to been closed by the government authorities in 2017. Additionally, several existing institutions were confirmed to have undergone mergers and consolidation. Updated details regarding these restructured institutions are outlined below.

 

No.	Code	PDB&DFI Name	Country	Remarks	Solution
1	NG19892	National Economic Reconstruction   Fund	Nigeria	It was closed by the government in   2017.	Delete
2	VN20093	Quang Nam Development and   Investment Fund	Vietnam	It was merged into Da Nang City   Development Investment Fund in 2025.	Delete
3	VN20073	Da Nang City Development   Investment Fund	Vietnam	The old ID code is VN20101 in the   database.	Revise and   supplement
4	LT19971	UAB Agricultural Loan Guarantee   Fund	Lithuania	LT19971   and LT20121 were merged in LT20011 in 2023	Delete
5	LT20121	Public Investment Development   Agency	Lithuania		Delete
6	LT20011	Investment and business guarantees	Lithuania	-	Keep

 

To maintain standardized data consistency, the fully merged subordinate institution has been formally removed from the official dataset, while all valid data of the surviving parent institution is retained and updated accordingly. For full data transparency and traceability, the year of the merger event and participating institutional entities are clearly annotated in the appendix of the database Excel file. Researchers and users who are interested in getting access to the historical records of the delisted institutions may contact the database team via email (nsedfi@nsd.pku.edu.cn) for further information.

 

 

Forthcoming Steps

 

For the 2026 Q4 release, the database team plans to refine the operational indicators on whether taking deposits for financial inclusion to evaluate whether a few retail-deposit-taking institutions remain to be qualified as PDBs and DFIs. It will help to generate further insights on institutional typology. The team will release its annual data update in Q1 2027, which will collect financial indicators of FY2025 and fill identified data gaps by supplementing missing historical records prior to the 2018–2024 coverage period. To balance operational efficiency and data accuracy, this annual iteration will adopt a hybrid approach combining digital technology-driven data extraction and manual collection, cross-check and validation, aiming to further improve the overall comprehensiveness, precision and reliability of the database.

 

Leveraging the database’s official primary data resources and other reliable international sources, the team will continue to carry out academic and policy research on public development finance. These efforts will solidly support evidence-based policy-making and advance progress toward sustainable development goals.

 

To learn more, please visit our data visualization website (http://www.dfidatabase.pku.edu.cn/) to register 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.