The Dutch Central Bank (DNB) shifted about 86 tonnes of its gold reserves from vaults in New York and Ottawa to London from March through August 2026. This transfer increased the London-held share of its gold from approximately 18.1% to 32.1% while reducing the shares in New York and Ottawa to 18.5% each [1, 2, 3].
Before the move, 31.3% of DNB’s gold was stored in New York and 19.7% in Ottawa. After the transfer, these locations now each hold less than 19% of the total reserves [1, 3]. Roughly 27 tonnes in gold bars were physically moved from the US and Canada to the domestic vault in Zeist, Netherlands. The remainder was effectively relocated by selling gold in New York and repurchasing it in London, which helped avoid melting down the bars [1, 3].
The bank said the reallocation aims to improve crisis resilience amid escalating geopolitical tensions, including disputes between the US and Iran and trade disagreements between the US and Canada. Holding gold with the Bank of England is seen by DNB as providing easier tradability and better access during a crisis than gold stored in North America [1, 2, 3].
Olaf Sleijpen, DNB Governor, said, “With this relocation, we have improved the tradability of our gold reserves. We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness.” He described the move as necessary to boost crisis preparedness [1, 2].
At the end of 2025, the total Dutch gold reserves stood at 612.4 tonnes, valued at €72.2 billion. In early September 2026, gold prices were trading around $4,429.61 per ounce, up about 25% over the past year [1, 2].
DNB had also expressed concerns about relying heavily on the US, noting risks if relations deteriorate further and the US were to block payment transactions involving the Netherlands [3].
The physical transfer to Zeist and the gold rebalancing across vaults finished in August 2026.
