Dutch central bank moves gold out of US and Canada

The Dutch central bank (DNB) has moved about 86 tonnes of gold out of the United States and Canada to London, saying the reserves can be sold faster there in a crisis.

DNB said the transfer took place between March and August this year, and amounts to more than a quarter of the roughly 313 tonnes it had held in New York and Ottawa combined.

London is the world’s main trading centre for physical gold, and the bank said metal stored there is quicker to deploy than gold held in the US or Canada. It framed the move as part of wider work on “crisis readiness” amid growing geopolitical tension.

Most of the gold came out of the underground vault in Manhattan. Around 59 tonnes was sold in New York and bought back in London, which avoided melting down the bars and risking a loss of quality. A further 27 tonnes was physically shipped from the US and Canada to the DNB vault in Zeist, with the same quantity moved on from Zeist to London.

The share of Dutch gold held in New York has fallen from 31.3% to 18.5%, and Canada’s from 19.7% to 18.5%. London now holds the largest single share at 32.1%, up from 18.1%, while 30.8% remains in the Netherlands.

“We assume that we will never need to deploy the gold, but it is nevertheless necessary to strengthen our resilience and preparedness,” DNB president Olaf Sleijpen said.

DNB has repeatedly warned about Dutch reliance on the US since Donald Trump returned to the White House, though it has said it is not worried the US would seize the reserves. The Netherlands held 612.4 tonnes of gold, worth €72.2 billion, at the end of 2025.