Netherlands shifts 86 tonnes of gold reserve to UK citing geopolitical risks
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Netherlands shifts 86 tonnes of gold reserve to UK citing geopolitical risks")
Netherlands shifts 86 tonnes of gold reserve to UK citing geopolitical risks Photograph: (Credit: Pexels/Representative image)
The Dutch central bank has shifted 86 tonnes of gold from the US and Canada to London for "crisis preparedness" amid rising geopolitical unrest.
The Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), has relocated 86 tonnes of its gold reserves from the United States and Canada to the United Kingdom, explicitly citing “increasing geopolitical unrest” as a primary driver behind the move. The multi-month operation, conducted between March and August, saw a significant portion of the country's bullion shifted out of vaults in New York and Ottawa to the Bank of England in London.
DNB explained that storing a larger share of its gold in London drastically enhances its operational flexibility during severe financial or geopolitical shocks. London hosts the world's largest, deepest, and most liquid physical gold market, transacting hundreds of billions of dollars in bullion weekly.
"With this step, we have improved the deployability of our gold reserves," said DNB President Olaf Sleijpen. "We assume that we will never need to deploy the gold, but it is nevertheless necessary to strengthen our resilience and preparedness."
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To execute the move while minimising physical transport risks and avoiding expensive bar-remelting processes, DNB used a dual-strategy approach. Roughly 27 tonnes of physical gold bars were shipped from North America to the DNB cash center in Zeist, Netherlands, before being routed to London. The remaining 59 tonnes were sold off directly in New York and simultaneously repurchased in London to instantly meet international trade standards.
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Following the transaction, the proportion of Dutch gold stored in New York dropped from 31.3% to 18.5%, while Canada's holdings similarly decreased from 19.7% to 18.5%. London now holds the largest international share of the Netherlands' gold at 32.1% (up from 18.1%), while 30.8% remains securely located within the Netherlands.
The Netherlands holds a total of 612.4 tonnes of gold reserves, valued at over €72 billion. While central banks routinely rebalance portfolio locations, financial analysts note that growing global political instability and transatlantic policy tensions have accelerated European efforts to prioritise immediate liquidity over distant storage.
