The Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), announced on Wednesday that it has moved 86 metric tonnes of gold from vaults in the United States and Canada to the Bank of England in London. The transfer, completed between March and August, involves gold worth roughly €10 billion.

DNB said the decision was driven by ‘increasing geopolitical unrest’ and a desire to make its reserves easier to access and trade quickly if a crisis were to hit. The bank was careful to note that the gold itself had never been in danger while stored in New York and Ottawa.

Why London

According to DNB, gold held in London meets modern international trading standards, making it faster to sell or deploy than gold stored in New York or Ottawa. Before the move, New York held 31.3% of the Netherlands’ gold reserves and Ottawa held 19.7%, together accounting for roughly 313 tonnes.

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.

The quote comes from DNB President Olaf Sleijpen, as reported by CP24 and Reuters. The bank added in a separate statement, cited by Euronews, that London’s gold ‘makes it the quickest for DNB to deploy in a crisis situation.’

How the gold moved

Rather than shipping the full amount directly across the Atlantic, DNB combined physical transport with a swap arrangement. About 27 tonnes of physical gold were moved from the US and Canada to DNB’s own vault in Zeist, in the Netherlands, while a matching quantity was moved from Zeist onward to London. The rest of the 86-tonne shift was achieved through buying and selling gold rather than physically relocating every bar, a method the bank said helped spread the risks of moving such a large quantity without melting down bullion.

DNB did not disclose exactly how the gold was transported across the Atlantic.

After the transfer, about 32% of the Netherlands’ total gold stock is held in London, while roughly 31% remains within the country in Zeist. At the end of 2025, the Netherlands’ total gold reserves stood at 612.4 tonnes, valued at €72.2 billion, according to figures reported by CP24 and US News, citing the Associated Press.

Part of a wider pattern

DNB’s move echoes decisions by other European central banks in recent years, including Germany and Austria, which have repatriated or repositioned gold reserves over similar concerns about geopolitical stability and access. DNB framed the London transfer as a specific response to what it called rising geopolitical instability, without detailing further plans for its remaining reserves.

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