Dutch central bank moves 86 tons of gold from U.S. as geopolitical risks rise

The Dutch central bank, DNB, moved 86 tons of gold out of the United States between March and August, splitting it between London and its own vaults, citing geopolitical risk and a desire for more liquid reserves. It's not the first such move: DNB pulled 122.5 tons from New York back in 2014.

The bank used a swap to avoid the logistics headache of remelting bars to different standards, selling gold in New York and buying an equivalent amount in London while physically shipping the rest. The maneuver lifted London's share of Dutch gold storage from 18.1% to 32.1%, with the total reserve valued at 72.2 billion euros.

DNB's president said the bank expects it will never actually need to draw on the reserves, which raises the question of what exactly 86 tons of quiet repositioning was solving. The move tracks a broader trend: a World Gold Council survey found 89% of central banks expect their gold holdings to grow and 74% expect the dollar's share of reserves to shrink, while France and India have already trimmed their own U.S.-held stashes.

Germany's Bundesbank, notably, isn't playing along, calling the New York Fed an extremely important and reliable storage location. Ukraine, meanwhile, isn't shifting gold anywhere; its reserves sit passively as an inflation hedge under wartime budget constraints, a reminder that not every country gets to play this particular game of musical vaults.

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