Later today, the National Party is expected to make good on its election campaign promise for a A$4.5 billion 'regional investment bank' bringing together concessional rural recovery loans and, potentially, agriculture and water resourcing financing.As Michelle Grattan reminded readers of the Conversation last week, this is not new money, but funds presently borrowed by the Commonwealth and sent to the states, which administer the loans. Under the plan, the administration would be done by the federal government.If any move in that area is taken, it will merely continue a trajectory by agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce started in late 2014, when he spoke to farmers in North Queensland who allegedly had their farm loans foreclosed by the Big Four banks. And then, for the benefit of the Big Four banks and others such as Rabobank, he threatened to introduce rules to stop foreclosures.When talk of a new rural lending fund re-emerged in May and June this year, it was spoken of in the light of milk producers' combined cash flow problems, as major milk processors cut their farm gate buying price.The recovery loans would be for terms of ten years.Joyce then made the promise to establish a A$4.5 billion regional investment bank which would bring together existing rural concessional loans and could include some loans for private projects.The fund would streamline existing concessional loan programs such as concessional drought loans and dairy support loans. But the details - including how the fund would mesh with the states administering the loan schemes - have yet to be revealed.Nine financial counsellors in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and NSW will also be employed to work specifically with the dairy sector and a Department of Human Services dairy industry liaison officer appointed, new.com.au reports.News outfits such as the ABC are suggesting that later today the Nationals are likely to call once again for a regional investment corporation, to provide taxpayer subsidised lending to agriculture and water projects, paralleling the Commonwealth development bank of the 1960s. Putting this idea further at odds with what would be orthodox practice, the model being floated now is that the entity would be controlled by the Department of Agriculture, bypassing the Department of Finance, which has more expertise in banking.