Dutch bank's 86-tonne gold move to London deepens custody shift

Dutch reserve managers moved 86 tonnes of bullion valued near $12 billion out of North American vaults to London, responding to rising geopolitical instability and making the UK capital their largest storage site.

"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," DNB President Olaf Sleijpen said.

The transfer lifted London's share of Dutch holdings to 32.1 percent from 18.1 percent, while the portion stored in New York and Ottawa each fell to 18.5 percent from 31.3 percent and 19.7 percent respectively. The Netherlands keeps 30.8 percent at home. Total Dutch gold stock stood at 612.4 tonnes, valued at 72.2 billion euros at the end of 2025. The bank combined buying and selling with physical transport, moving more than 27 tonnes of bullion from North America to Zeist and an equal amount from Zeist to London to avoid melting bars.

Gold stored in London can be traded more readily than metal held in New York or Ottawa, which the DNB said makes it fastest to deploy in a crisis. The relocation is the most concrete sign yet of an allied central bank pulling reserves out of US custody, and it raises the question of whether other European holders follow.

Who Follows the DNB?

Central banks have been relocating reserves for about a decade, said Laurent Schwartz, president of the Paris-based National Gold Counter, which helps gold trading in France. "The current political context in the United States might also push certain central banks into favouring other storage locations," Schwartz said. The London market is the deepest and most liquid, making it easier to deploy bullion in a crisis and to lend to other institutions.

John Plassard, an analyst at Cite Gestion Private Bank, called the Dutch move "fairly one-off" for now but warned that if other central banks followed, it could damage confidence in the United States. Germany raised concerns at the start of the year about the security of its reserves in New York, yet the Bundesbank has decided for now not to shift them. "The New York Fed is and remains an important storage site for our gold," the bank told public broadcaster ARD in January.

The episode feeds a broader de-dollarization narrative that has supported gold prices as central banks diversify reserves away from dollar assets. Should other holders follow the DNB, more official bullion would concentrate in London and erode the standing of US-based custody, with consequences for the dollar and for gold-related equities. The DNB's own arithmetic — cutting its combined North American share to 37 percent from 51 percent — shows how quickly an allied central bank can rebalance when it judges geopolitical risk to have risen.

The choice of London over New York also reflects where official metal can be mobilized fastest. The UK capital hosts the world's deepest over-the-counter bullion market, and the Bank of England already warehouses a large share of central-bank gold, giving reserve managers a liquid venue to lend or sell metal without the friction of cross-border transport. That operational advantage, not just the political backdrop, explains why the DNB favored London as the destination for the metal it pulled out of North America.

For now the move stands as a one-off, but the precedent it sets will be watched closely by other European reserve managers weighing where to park their gold. If a second major holder follows the DNB, the shift would mark a turning point in how allied central banks treat US-based custody, and it would reinforce the safe-haven bid that has kept bullion near record levels even as real yields have climbed.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.