Dutch Central Bank Enhances Gold Reserve Liquidity with Major Shift to London

The Dutch central bank has pulled 86 tons of gold out of vaults in New York and Ottawa and moved it to London, citing the need to keep its reserves ready to sell quickly if a crisis hits.

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) said Wednesday the shift took place between March and August 2026 and covers roughly a quarter of the 313 tons it previously held across the two North American locations combined. Of that total, 27 tons were physically flown to DNB's guarded vault near the Dutch town of Zeist and then on to London; the remaining 59 tons never moved as bars at all — DNB sold gold held in New York and bought an equivalent amount in London instead, avoiding the cost of remelting bars to meet UK trading standards.

The result: New York and Ottawa each now hold about 18.5% of the Dutch reserve, down from 31.3% and 19.7% respectively before the move. London has overtaken both as the single largest storage location.

DNB's total gold holdings stand at 612.4 tons, valued at €72.2 billion ($83.6 billion) at the end of 2025 — the 10th-largest central bank gold reserve in the world.

"With this relocation, we have improved the tradability of our gold reserves," DNB governor Olaf Sleijpen said in a statement. "We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness."

DNB said gold held with the Bank of England meets modern international trading standards and can be converted to cash faster than metal sitting in New York or Ottawa vaults. The bank has moved its gold before: it repatriated 122.5 tons from New York to Amsterdam in 2014 and shifted 200 tons into the Zeist facility in 2023.