Central Banks Reshuffle Gold Reserves as Trust in U.S. Custody Wanes
The Dutch central bank has moved more than 78 tons of gold from New York to London, joining France and other nations in rethinking where their reserves are stored as geopolitical tensions rise.
Central banks are quietly redrawing the map of the world's gold reserves, and the direction of travel is away from the United States. The Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank, confirmed it moved more than 78 tons of gold held in New York and seven tons held in Canada to London, citing «increasing geopolitical unrest» and a need to improve its «crisis preparedness.»
The shift is the latest in a broader redistribution of official gold holdings that has been building for years but has accelerated as tensions between Washington and Europe sharpen. France removed all of its gold from the New York Fed between July 2025 and January 2026, according to the account of the moves. The New York Fed has long served as custodian for the gold of foreign governments, central banks and international organizations, much of it shipped across the Atlantic during and after World War II when countries sought a safe haven for their reserves.
That stockpile peaked in the early 1970s and has been sliding ever since the United States took the dollar off the gold standard. It now stands at roughly half its peak, and U.S. custodianship continues to decline.
For the Dutch, the logic is practical as much as political. Central bank governor Olaf Sleijpen said London's role as the world's largest trading hub for bullion means gold stored at the Bank of England would be more accessible if it were ever needed. «We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness,» he said.
The Netherlands is hardly acting alone. Germany moved 930 tons from London to Frankfurt in 2000 and then shifted 674 tons from New York and Paris to Frankfurt between 2013 and 2017, according to the World Gold Council. The Dutch themselves moved 122.5 tons from New York to Amsterdam in 2014, and Austria repatriated 90 tons from London between 2015 and 2018. Outside Europe, Venezuela brought home 160 tons in 2011 and 2012, while India has accelerated the pace of relocation since 2023.
Krishan Gopaul, a senior analyst at the World Gold Council, said in a blog post last month that such movements have come in waves and began well before relocation became a geopolitical issue. The current wave, however, is more complicated. «Heightened geopolitical uncertainty has increased attention on jurisdiction, access during a crisis and exposure to overseas financial infrastructure,» he said. «Yet recent operations by France and DNB show that the answer does not necessarily lie in domestic storage alone. Central banks are increasingly optimizing across three considerations: custody risk, physical accessibility and market liquidity.»
Politics is adding pressure. Lawmakers in Germany and Italy, which hold the world's second- and third-largest gold reserves, have demanded that more of their bullion be taken out of the United States, pointing to President Donald Trump's hostility toward Europe, including his threats to seize Greenland. Germany's central bank has pushed back on fears that its gold could be vulnerable in New York, arguing that the United States would harm itself if it threatened confidence in financial markets.
Gopaul noted that some central banks are increasing domestic storage while others are spreading holdings across more overseas locations, a sign that diversification of custody has become a priority. Relocation does not mean central banks are preparing to sell, he added. «But the emerging picture is one in which security alone is no longer enough,» he said. «For some central banks, gold must also be accessible, tradable and distributed across locations that remain dependable under stress.»
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