The Netherlands’ central bank has repositioned a major portion of its gold reserves away from North America and toward London, saying the move will make the bullion easier to access and trade rapidly during a financial or geopolitical crisis.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Dutch central bank has restructured where it stores billions of dollars in national gold reserves, reducing holdings in the United States and Canada while increasing the amount kept in London as part of what officials describe as preparations for a possible future crisis.
De Nederlandsche Bank, or DNB, announced Wednesday that approximately 86 metric tons of gold were shifted to London between March and August.
The bullion came from roughly 313 metric tons that had previously been held collectively in New York and Ottawa.
The move substantially altered the geographic distribution of Dutch reserves.
Before the restructuring, 31.3% of the Netherlands’ gold was held in New York and another 19.7% was stored in Ottawa. Following the changes, each location accounts for 18.5% of the country’s total holdings.
The bank said the objective was not to reduce the Netherlands’ overall gold reserves but to place a greater share of them where they could be converted or mobilized more readily if extraordinary circumstances required it.
“With this relocation, we have improved the tradability of our gold reserves,” DNB Governor Olaf Sleijpen said in a written statement. “We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness.”
The Netherlands possesses 612.4 metric tons, or approximately 675 tons, of gold.
At the end of 2025, those reserves were valued at 72.2 billion euros, equivalent to roughly $83.6 billion.
The relocation involved a combination of physically transporting bullion across borders and conducting gold transactions in different markets.
More than 27 metric tons, or approximately 30 tons, were physically removed from storage in the United States and Canada and transferred to DNB’s heavily secured vault on a military installation near Zeist in the central Netherlands.
The central bank did not disclose details concerning how the bullion was transported across the Atlantic.
At approximately the same time, a similar quantity of gold was physically moved from the Zeist facility to London.
That two-way movement allowed DNB to alter the location and composition of its reserves while maintaining bullion within its own domestic vault.
The remaining portion of the restructuring did not involve physically carrying gold directly from North America to Britain.
Instead, DNB sold approximately 59 metric tons, or about 65 tons, of gold in New York and used the proceeds to purchase an equivalent amount in London.
The central bank said London provides a particular advantage during periods when reserves might need to be deployed quickly.
Gold held through the Bank of England conforms to widely recognized international trading standards and is considered highly liquid within the global bullion market.
DNB said gold held at the Bank of England “must meet modern international trade standards and is regarded as the world´s most easily tradable gold and will therefore be the most readily available for DNB in a crisis situation.”
By comparison, the central bank said reserves stored in North America would be more difficult to mobilize immediately.
“The gold reserves held in New York and Ottawa cannot be utilized as quickly and directly in such a situation,” DNB said.
The decision therefore reflects a concern not simply with how much gold the Netherlands owns, but with where that gold is positioned if authorities suddenly need access to it.
Central bank gold reserves can function as a financial backstop during severe economic or geopolitical disruptions, particularly because physical bullion does not depend on another entity’s promise to repay a debt.
DNB’s restructuring increases the portion of Dutch gold held in a market where large transactions can be executed more readily while maintaining significant reserves in multiple locations.
It also leaves substantial holdings in both New York and Ottawa rather than withdrawing completely from either location.
The decision arrives amid heightened international political uncertainty, with DNB explicitly framing the redistribution as part of its broader resilience and “crisis preparedness” strategy.
Although bank officials said they do not expect circumstances requiring emergency use of the reserves to arise, they are positioning more of the country’s bullion so that it could be accessed and traded rapidly if those conditions ever develop.
The physical movement of more than 27 metric tons from North America, the corresponding shipment from the Netherlands to Britain and the sale and repurchase of another 59 metric tons ultimately shifted approximately 86 metric tons toward London.
For the Dutch central bank, the result is a gold reserve that remains geographically diversified but is now weighted more heavily toward a location officials consider better suited for immediate use during a crisis.
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