Gold Shift

The Dutch central bank said Wednesday it had moved 86 tonnes of its gold reserves out of the United States and Canada to London, citing "increasing geopolitical unrest." The DNB bank said gold reserves held in London could be traded more easily than those held in New York and Ottawa. "This makes it the quickest for DNB to deploy in a crisis situation," said the bank in a statement.

"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," said DNB President Olaf Sleijpen. The total Dutch gold stock amounted to 612.4 tonnes and was valued at 72.2 billion euros at the end of 2025.

London deepest and most liquid

Before the move, the Dutch bank held 31.3 percent of its gold in New York and 19.7 percent in Ottawa. After the move, each country accounted for 18.5 percent. The share of gold held in London increased from 18.1 percent to 32.1 percent. The bank still holds 30.8 percent of its gold in the Netherlands.

The London market is the deepest and most liquid, making it easier to deploy in times of crisis. "Central banks can more easily lend their gold there to other banking institutions," said Laurent Schwartz, president of the Paris-based National Gold Counter. Analyst John Plassard warned that if other central banks followed suit, it could damage confidence in the United States.