Dutch central bank relocates 86 tonnes of gold from US and Canada to UK amid geopolitical unrest

The Dutch central bank has announced that 86 tonnes of its gold reserves have been relocated from the United States and Canada to London, citing "increasing geopolitical unrest" as the reason.

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) explained that gold stored in London can be traded more easily than reserves held in New York and Ottawa. "This makes it the quickest for DNB to deploy in a crisis situation," the bank stated on Wednesday.

DNB president Olaf Sleijpen said: "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."

At the end of 2025, the Dutch gold stock totalled 612.4 tonnes and was valued at €72.2bn ($83.7bn), according to the DNB.

Before the transfer, the Dutch bank held 31.3% of its gold in New York and 19.7% in Ottawa. After the move, each of these locations accounts for 18.5% of the Dutch gold reserve. The share held in London rose from 18.1% to 32.1%, while 30.8% of the gold remains in the Netherlands.

The transfer was carried out through a combination of buying and selling and the movement of physical gold. More than 27 tonnes of physical gold were moved from the US and Canada to Zeist, with the same quantity then transported from Zeist to London, avoiding the need to melt down gold bars.

"By combining buying and selling and physical transport, the risks associated with physically moving a large quantity of gold have been spread," the DNB said. The operation took place between March and August of this year.

Laurent Schwartz, president of the Paris-based National Gold Counter, which facilitates gold trading in France, noted that central banks have been relocating their reserves for about a decade. "The current political context in the United States might also push certain central banks into favouring other storage locations," he said.

Schwartz described the London market as the deepest and most liquid, making it easier to deploy gold in times of crisis. "Central banks can more easily lend their gold there to other banking institutions."

John Plassard, an analyst at Cite Gestion Private Bank, said the Dutch move was intended "for there to be more immediate availability in the event of a crisis". While describing the move as "fairly one-off", he warned that similar actions by other central banks could damage confidence in the US.

Earlier this year, concerns were raised in Germany about the security of its central bank's reserves in New York. However, the Bundesbank has decided for the moment not to shift its reserves. "The New York Fed is and remains an important storage site for our gold," the bank told public TV station ARD in January.