Dutch Central Bank Shifts $12B Gold Reserves from US to London

The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank) has moved around 86 metric tons of gold from New York and Ottawa to London, worth approximately $12 billion. This rebalancing of its bullion holdings is a response to rising geopolitical risk, with Governor Olaf Sleijpen stating that the move improves the tradability of their gold reserves.

The operation involved selling 59 tons in New York and buying an equivalent amount in London, as well as shipping over 27 tons from the US and Canada to the DNB facility in Zeist, southeast of Amsterdam. Today, 30.8% of the bank's total gold reserves (612.4 tons) is stored in Zeist, while London now holds the largest share.

London was chosen for its deep pool of gold trading, with hundreds of billions of dollars worth changing hands each week. The Bank of England must comply with market standards for weight and purity, making the gold easily tradable and deployable in a crisis situation.