Geopolitical unrest is the order of the day central banks to think harder about where they keep their gold reserves.
On Wednesday, the Dutch Central Bank said it had moved about 86 tonnes of gold from New York and Ottawa to London between March and August, “in view of increasing geopolitical unrest” and to improve its crisis preparedness.
London now holds 32.1% of Dutch gold reserves, up from 18.1%, making it the largest overseas storage location for Dutch gold.
New York’s share fell from 31.3% to 18.5%, while Ottawa’s share fell from 19.7% to 18.5%.
“With this move we have improved the tradability of our gold reserves,” says Olaf Sleijpen, governor of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).
“We expect that we will never have to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness,” Sleijpen said.
Most redeployments did not involve ship bars across the Atlantic.
DNB sold approximately 59 tons of gold in New York and bought replacement precious metal in London. More than 27 tonnes were physically moved from the US and Canada to the Netherlands, while a similar amount was transferred from the Netherlands to London.
DNB said its gold can be sold more quickly in London during a crisis because it is held at one of the world’s most important gold trading hubs and already meets international trading standards. It describes gold as the “ultimate reserve” for hedging extreme systemic risks.
France has also reshuffled its foreign assets. Banque de France sold the remaining gold it owned in New York between July 2025 and January 2026 and bought replacement gold in Europe, replacing older bars with bullion that is easier to trade internationally.
Germany and Italy, meanwhile, have faced political pressure to reconsider New York’s gold reserves, although neither central bank has announced plans to repatriate it.
The trend is broader. A World Gold Council survey in June found that 10% of central banks had diversified their overseas gold storage locations in the past year, up from 2% a year earlier. Meanwhile, 9% had increased domestic storage, up from 5%.
The shift comes as wars, sanctions and geopolitical fragmentation place greater emphasis on the global economy accessibility of overseas reserves, especially after the immobilization of Russia’s central bank assets in foreign hands following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
New hubs for vaulting are also emerging. Singapore’s central bank will begin stockpiling gold for foreign central banks and sovereign entities in October as the city-state builds out its bullion market and seeks to provide liquidity during Asian trading hours.
The changing vault landscape comes amid a historic run for gold in recent years, driven by geopolitical uncertainty purchase by the central bank.
Find gold was trading around $4,470 a troy ounce late Thursday. The price is up 3.5% year to date after a record run of nearly $5,600 in late January.
