The Dutch central bank moved 86 tonnes of gold reserves out of the United States and Canada to London, citing increasing geopolitical unrest, in an announcement made on Wednesday, 2 September 2026.
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) said the operation ran between March and August 2026, as reported by Euronews. The gold was placed with the Bank of England in London, where DNB said it could be traded more easily in a crisis situation.
The transfer was executed in two ways. Part of it was carried out by buying and selling gold across jurisdictions, and part of it involved physically transporting gold bars between vaults, a logistically complex process that the bank spread over six months rather than a single movement.
Where the Dutch central bank’s gold reserves now sit
Before the operation, DNB held 31.3% of its gold in New York and 19.7% in Ottawa. After the transfer, the share stored in London rose from 18.1% to 32.1%, making the British capital the single largest location for the country’s bullion.
DNB’s total gold stock stood at 612.4 tonnes at the end of 2025, valued at €72.2 billion.
Central banks hold gold as a reserve asset alongside foreign currency, using it as a hedge against inflation, currency shocks and political risk that can erode the value of other holdings.
Why does the deployability of gold reserves matter?
Deployability describes how quickly a central bank can turn its gold into cash or use it as collateral. London hosts the deepest over-the-counter bullion market in the world, so metal held there can be sold or pledged without first being shipped across an ocean.
Gold stored in a foreign vault carries an additional consideration. Access depends on the co-operation of the host jurisdiction, which is why the location of reserves becomes a live question when relations between governments deteriorate.
DNB President Olaf Sleijpen framed the decision as a matter of preparedness.
“With this step, we have improved the deployability of the gold reserves. We assume that we will never need to deploy the gold, but it is nevertheless necessary to strengthen our resilience and preparedness.”
What did the Dutch central bank mean by geopolitical unrest?
The bank did not specify which developments prompted the reference to geopolitical unrest. The operation ran against a backdrop of strained relations between the United States and Canada, where both governments announced fresh tariffs on each other’s goods after trade negotiations between them broke down.
Movements of this size are rare. Central banks tend to leave reserves where they are for decades at a time, because relocating physical bullion involves insurance, secure transport and settlement risk, and because the decision draws close scrutiny from markets and other monetary authorities.
DNB gave no indication that further transfers were planned, and the balance of its reserves remained divided between New York, Ottawa and the Netherlands.
The operation put a marker down on a question central banks have been revisiting quietly for years, namely how much of the gold they hold abroad they could actually reach in a crisis.
