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🇬🇧 United Kingdom /Economy & Trade

Dutch Central Bank Moves 86 Tonnes of Gold to London Amid Geopolitical Unrest

From The Guardian · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • De Nederlandsche Bank moved 86 tonnes of gold from storage in the United States and Canada to London, citing rising geopolitical unrest.
  • London’s share of the Netherlands’ 612.4-tonne gold reserve rose from 18.1% to 32.1%, while the shares held in New York and Ottawa each fell to 18.5%.
  • Analysts said the move could improve access to gold during a crisis, but wider shifts away from the United States could affect confidence in its role as a storage location.

The Netherlands has shifted 86 tonnes of its gold reserves from the United States and Canada to London, citing “increasing geopolitical unrest.” De Nederlandsche Bank said the move would make the gold easier to trade and faster to deploy in a crisis.

This makes it the quickest for DNB to deploy in a crisis situation.

— De Nederlandsche BankThe Dutch central bank explained why it considers London a more practical storage location.

The transfer took place between March and August. DNB moved more than 27 tonnes of physical gold from the United States and Canada to Zeist in the Netherlands, then sent the same amount from Zeist to London. By combining physical transport with buying and selling, the bank said it avoided melting down gold bars and spread the risks of moving a large quantity of bullion.

The Netherlands held 612.4 tonnes of gold worth €72.2 billion ($83.7 billion) at the end of 2025. Before the operation, 31.3% of the reserves were held in New York and 19.7% in Ottawa. Those proportions each fell to 18.5% after the move. London’s share rose from 18.1% to 32.1%, while 30.8% remained in the Netherlands.

With this step, we have improved the deployability of the gold reserves. We assume that we will never need to deploy the gold, but it is nevertheless necessary to strengthen our resilience and preparedness.

— Olaf SleijpenDNB’s president described the purpose of the reserve transfer.

DNB President Olaf Sleijpen said the bank assumed it would never need to deploy the gold, but still needed to strengthen its resilience and preparedness. Laurent Schwartz of the National Gold Counter said central banks had been reallocating reserves for about a decade and that the political climate in the United States could encourage some to choose other locations.

The current political context in the United States might also push certain central banks into favouring other storage locations.

— Laurent SchwartzThe president of the National Gold Counter discussed possible reasons for reserve reallocations.

John Plassard of Cite Gestion Private Bank called the Dutch operation a largely one-off move for now. He warned that if other central banks followed, it could weaken confidence in the United States. Germany’s Bundesbank, which faced questions about its New York holdings earlier this year, has said the New York Fed remains an important storage site for its gold.

The New York Fed is and remains an important storage site for our gold.

— BundesbankGermany’s central bank said it would not currently move its gold reserves away from New York.
About this summary

Originally published by The Guardian in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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