86 Tons of Gold Leave North America – and the Reasoning is Remarkable
September 4, 2026
86 tons of gold.
The Dutch central bank has reallocated a significant portion of its gold reserves held in North America in favor of London.
The share of Dutch gold in New York is thus falling from 31.3 to 18.5 percent.
Ottawa: from 19.7 to 18.5 percent.
London, on the other hand, is rising from 18.1 to 32.1 percent, making it the largest single storage location for Dutch central bank gold.
That alone would be remarkable.
However, the official reasoning is even more interesting.
The Dutch central bank speaks of increasing geopolitical unrest, of crisis prevention – and explicitly describes gold as an „anchor of trust“ to hedge against extreme systemic risks.
This is a remarkably clear description of why central banks hold gold in the year 2026.
The operation was not that simple.
At the end of 2025, the DNB held a total of 612.4 tons of gold with a value at the time of 72.2 billion euros.
Of this, just under 313 tons were located in the USA and Canada before the reallocation.
Between March and August, around 86 tons of this were reallocated in favor of London.
But only a part of it was physically moved across the Atlantic.
Around 59 tons of gold were sold in New York and corresponding gold was purchased in London.
More than 27 tons were actually brought from North America to Zeist in the Netherlands. At the same time, the DNB transferred a corresponding amount of gold already present in Zeist to London.
Why this effort?
Because not every historical gold bar is equally suitable for modern international gold trading.
Gold at the Bank of England meets international trading standards and, according to the DNB, can be deployed particularly quickly in the event of a crisis.
So it was not about owning less gold.
The Netherlands owns exactly as much after the operation as before.
It was about where the gold is located – and how quickly it can be accessed.
This seems paradoxical at first.
If a central bank reallocates due to geopolitical risks, one might expect it to bring its gold entirely into its own country.
That is exactly what the Netherlands is not doing.
The share in Zeist remains unchanged at 30.8 percent.
Instead, London becomes the most important storage location with 32.1 percent.
The reason is London's special position as an international trading center for physical gold.
The DNB is thus pursuing two goals simultaneously:
Security through geographical diversification and liquidity through immediate access to the gold market.
This is reserve policy – not treasury romanticism.
The central bank's choice of words is particularly remarkable.
The DNB explains that a larger gold holding in London strengthens the function of gold as an „anchor of trust“.
Even more clearly:
Gold is particularly suitable for hedging extreme systemic risks.
This is interesting because central banks are thus not treating gold like a normal commodity.
Gold pays no interest.
Gold produces no cash flow.
Gold is not a company.
And yet, central banks worldwide hold enormous quantities of it.
Why?
Because physical gold possesses a property that a government bond, bank deposit, or other claim does not:
It is not a claim against a debtor.
The Dutch decision fits into a larger trend.
In the World Gold Council's 2026 Central Bank Survey, 89 percent of the reserve managers surveyed expect global central bank gold holdings to continue to rise over the next twelve months.
A record high of 45 percent even expect their own institution to purchase more gold.
And it's not just the quantity that is being re-evaluated.
But also the storage.
Ten percent of the central banks surveyed stated that they had diversified their foreign storage locations more heavily in the past year. Another nine percent plan to do so in the coming twelve months.
The Bank of England is the most popular storage location.
The Netherlands is therefore not an isolated case.
They are a particularly vivid example of a shift in the thinking of reserve managers.
This is where the story becomes particularly interesting.
Germany has around 3,350 tons of gold, making it the second-largest state gold reserve in the world.
Between 2013 and 2017, the Bundesbank had already moved a total of 300 tons of gold from New York and 374 tons from Paris to Frankfurt.
After the completion of this program, around 50 percent was in Frankfurt, around 37 percent in New York, and around 13 percent at the Bank of England.
The Bundesbank has always justified foreign custody with tradability: gold in New York or London can be more easily exchanged for international reserve currencies in the event of a crisis.
The Dutch decision therefore raises an interesting question:
Is the current distribution of German gold reserves still optimal in view of changed geopolitical risks?
There is no mandatory answer to this.
But the question is legitimate.
The picture becomes even larger if we look at global reserves rather than individual central banks.
According to the latest report from the European Central Bank, gold accounted for around 27 percent of global official reserves at market prices at the end of 2025.
US Treasury bonds: 22 percent.
Euro: 15 percent.
However, this figure also requires an important qualification:
A significant portion of the increased gold share resulted from the sharp rise in the price of the precious metal.
Central banks have therefore not simply sold dollars and euros en masse and exchanged everything for gold.
Nevertheless, the direction is remarkable.
The 86 tons therefore tell a larger story.
Not:
Gold is being brought to London because the price is higher there.
And also not:
The Netherlands is fleeing the dollar.
But rather:
In a geopolitically uncertain world, a highly developed Western central bank is reviewing where its physical gold is located, how quickly it can access it, and how it can be used in a severe crisis.
This is precisely the actual function of strategic reserves.
For private investors, the scale is of course completely different.
But the basic principle is remarkably similar:
Physical gold is not exclusively about how much of it you own.
It is also about
where it is located, whom you have to trust with its custody, and whether you can actually access it at the decisive moment.
The Dutch central bank has just reorganized 86 tons of gold precisely with these considerations in mind.
Perhaps that is the more important news than any daily movement in the gold price.
Stay farsighted.
Yours, Helge Peter Ippensen