De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the Dutch central bank, has relocated approximately 86 tonnes of gold worth 10.34 billion euros ($11.73 billion) from vaults in the United States and Canada to London, completing the operation between March and August 2026. The move is part of what DNB describes as an effort to improve the tradability and liquidity of its gold reserves amid rising geopolitical tensions.
The transfer was executed through two distinct methods. DNB first sold roughly 59 tonnes of gold in New York, worth approximately $8.3 billion at December 2025 valuations, and purchased an equivalent amount in London. Separately, more than 27 tonnes of gold bars were physically transported from the United States and Canada to DNB's Cash Centre in Zeist, the Netherlands, with a similar quantity of gold meeting international market standards subsequently moved from Zeist to London. This dual approach was deliberate: DNB stated that combining both methods "allowed DNB to spread the risks associated with such a complex physical gold relocation operation, while also ensuring efficiency and cost-consciousness."
The redistribution has significantly altered the geographic balance of DNB's reserves. Before the move, New York held 31.3% of the Dutch gold, Ottawa 19.7%, Zeist 30.8%, and London 18.1%. After the transfer, London now holds 32.1% — becoming the single largest foreign repository — while New York and Ottawa each hold 18.5%, and Zeist retains its 30.8% share. The total Dutch gold stock stands at 612.4 tonnes, valued at 72.2 billion euros at year-end 2025, and has not changed in size.
DNB President Olaf Sleijpen framed the decision as a precaution rather than a response to any immediate threat. "With this relocation, we have improved the tradability of our gold reserves. We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness," Sleijpen said in a statement. DNB added that gold held with the Bank of England "is regarded as the world's most easily tradable gold" and that reserves in New York and Ottawa "cannot be utilised as quickly and directly in such a situation."
The move does not occur in a vacuum. France's central bank, the Banque de France, completed a similar operation in January 2026, repatriating 129 tonnes of gold from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to Paris. Germany, meanwhile, moved more than 600 tonnes of gold from New York to Frankfurt between 2013 and 2017. Analysts have linked these decisions to broader concerns about transatlantic stability, including the ongoing US-Iran conflict, the escalating US-Canada trade war — with both countries imposing reciprocal tariffs worth tens of billions of dollars — and the freezing of Russian sovereign assets by the European Union in 2022, which set a new precedent for the vulnerability of central bank reserves held abroad.
What the DNB announcement does not clarify is the precise nature of the "severe crises" it anticipates. The bank has not linked the move to any single geopolitical event and has emphasized that the total size of its gold reserves remains unchanged. The relocation concerns where gold is stored and how quickly it can be traded, not how much gold the Netherlands holds. DNB's dual-method approach was specifically designed to minimize the logistical risks and costs that critics have historically associated with moving gold between central bank vaults.
Sources
- De Nederlandsche Bank, "DNB improves tradability of gold reserves," September 3, 2026. https://www.dnb.nl/en/general-news/press-release-2026/dnb-improves-tradability-of-gold-reserves
- Al Jazeera, "Why has the Netherlands moved $10bn of its gold from the US?" September 3, 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/3/why-has-the-netherlands-moved-10bn-of-its-gold-from-the-us
- BBC News, "Netherlands moves billions in gold to London in 'crisis preparedness' move," September 3, 2026. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgy51xlz39o
- CNBC, "Dutch central bank moves gold bars out of US over crisis preparedness," September 3, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/03/netherlands-gold-transfer-us-canada-uk.html
