Central banks are moving gold reserves between continents as geopolitical tensions sharpen scrutiny of where bullion is held, with the Netherlands transferring more than 85 tonnes from North America to Europe.
De Nederlandsche Bank moved more than 78 tonnes stored in New York and a further seven tonnes in Canada to London, citing “increasing geopolitical unrest” and the need to improve its “crisis preparedness”.
Olaf Sleijpen, the Dutch central bank’s governor, said London’s position as the world’s largest trading hub for bullion would make the gold held at the Bank of England more accessible.
“We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness,” Mr Sleijpen said.
The transfer is part of a wider redistribution of official gold holdings. France removed all its gold from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York between July 2025 and January 2026, further reducing the amount held by the US custodian.
The New York Fed has traditionally stored gold for the US government, foreign governments, other central banks and official international organisations. Much of the bullion was moved there during and after the Second World War, when countries sought a secure location for their reserves.
Its stockpile peaked in the early 1970s, but began falling after the US abandoned the gold standard. It is now about half its previous high.
Gold repatriation and relocation have been under way for years. Germany moved 930 tonnes from London to Frankfurt in 2000, followed by 674 tonnes from New York and Paris between 2013 and 2017, according to the World Gold Council.
The Netherlands transferred 122.5 tonnes from New York to Amsterdam in 2014, while Austria moved 90 tonnes from London between 2015 and 2018. Venezuela repatriated 160 tonnes between 2011 and 2012, and India has accelerated the relocation of its holdings since 2023.
Krishan Gopaul, a senior analyst at the World Gold Council, said the movements had taken place in waves and predated the current focus on geopolitics. He said the latest phase reflected concerns about where gold could be accessed during a crisis and exposure to overseas financial infrastructure.
“Yet recent operations by France and DNB show that the answer does not necessarily lie in domestic storage alone,” Mr Gopaul said. “Central banks are increasingly optimising across three considerations: custody risk, physical accessibility and market liquidity.”
Lawmakers in Germany and Italy, which hold the second- and third-largest gold reserves respectively, have called for more bullion to be removed from the US. They cited Donald Trump’s hostility towards Europe, including his threats to seize Greenland.
Germany’s central bank has dismissed concerns that its gold in New York is vulnerable, arguing that the US would damage itself if it threatened confidence in financial markets.
Mr Gopaul said some central banks were increasing domestic storage while others were distributing their reserves across more overseas locations. Moving gold did not necessarily mean an intention to sell it, he added.
“But the emerging picture is one in which security alone is no longer enough,” he said. “For some central banks, gold must also be accessible, tradable and distributed across locations that remain dependable under stress.”
