LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The head of a group planning

a new multilateral defence bank has refused to be drawn on which

countries will support the project, following a public bid by

Canada to host the bank but ​signs that Britain and Germany were

resistant to the ‌plan.

The bank is being proposed by the Defence, Security and

Resilience Bank Development Group, with the aim of ⁠providing

financing for defence, security, and infrastructure projects for

NATO members and allied nations.

No government ⁠has formally put money into the project yet,

but a ‌number of commercial banks ‌including Deutsche Bank

, JPMorgan ( JPM ) and Canadian banks Royal Bank of

Canada ( RY ), BMO and TD Bank have signed up ​as

partner banks.

The group's CEO Rob Murray told ‌a Chatham House event that a

multilateral lender was needed for NATO countries' rearmament

efforts, but steered clear of saying how much support ​it

currently had.

"I can't really comment on where ​nations are ‌on this

particular project," Murray said when asked if the DSRB could be

located in Toronto and if Britain's Treasury had shown any sign

of dropping ⁠its resistance to the bank.

The DSRB's aim is to become a global ⁠state-backed bank with

a triple-A credit rating capable of raising 100 billion pounds

($135 billion) to fund defence projects.

British government officials though are concerned the

proposal would not increase value from defence spending, while

Germany wants to focus on the European Union's recently created

Security ⁠Action ‌for Europe (SAFE) joint procurement scheme.

Murray stressed the need for a ‌broader multilateral effort.

He cited an estimate that rules governing how much capital banks

need ⁠to hold when they lend to arms manufacturers mean that even

if all European banks were involved, only half the region's

defence spending plans would be funded.

"You have to have a multilateral bank geared exclusively for

defence that can provide that balance sheet power," Murray said.

Speaking earlier at the event, Britain's armed forces

minister Alistair Carns said the rising threats from the likes

of ​Russia meant the UK military only had a short time to get

itself "war fighting ready".

"My view would be 3-5 years (for a) geographically contained

crisis," Carns said. "If you look ​across Europe, the planning

time is 2029-2030. ‌People want to be ready".

($1 = 0.7395 pounds)