In the third quarter of 2024, the Public Development Banks (PDBs) and Development Financing Institutions (DFIs) database successfully identified three new institutions. As a result, the database now includes 536 PDBs and DFIs from 155 countries and economies around the world.

New Additions

To ensure consistent updates to the global list of PDBs and DFIs, we maintain regular contact with colleagues from both academia and industry. In this quarter, we received information about several potential DFIs from our stakeholders who are interested in and following closely the progress of our database. After a detailed examination on these institutions’ background information and legal documents, we identified three of them as DFIs, including Canada Infrastructure Bank, Farm Credit Canada, and InBC Investment Corporation.

Basic information about these institutions is provided below:

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

Quality Control Process

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.

Forthcoming Steps

Looking ahead, 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 in the upcoming fifth edition of “Finance in Common Summit”. 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.