Dutch Central Bank Relocates 86 Tons of Gold from US to London

The Dutch central bank has quietly relocated approximately 86 tons of gold from its reserves in New York and Ottawa to London between March and August 2026. This significant shift in the Netherlands' financial strategy reflects growing European unease about storing assets across the Atlantic.

The operation involved both physical shipment under heavy security and strategic sales in New York paired with purchases in London, designed to streamline the process and avoid remelting gold bars into different standard formats.

New York's share of Dutch gold reserves plummeted from 31.3% to just 18.5%, while Ottawa's portion dropped from 19.7% to 18.5%. Meanwhile, London's share surged from 18.1% to 32.1%, making the Bank of England the largest foreign storage location for Dutch gold outside the Netherlands itself.

The Netherlands holds approximately 612.4 tons of gold in total. At the end of 2025, the reserve was valued at roughly 72.2 billion euros, or about $83.6 billion.