Germany Gold Reserves: The Bundesbank’s Gold
Germany’s gold reserves are managed by the Deutsche Bundesbank: at the end of 2025 they amounted to 3,350 tonnes of gold worth around €395 billion. This makes Germany the second-largest gold holder in the world after the United States. The gold is stored in three places – in Frankfurt am Main, at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York and at the Bank of England in London.
How much gold does Germany have?
According to the Bundesbank’s 2025 annual accounts, its physical gold holdings on 31 December 2025 were exactly 3,350,285 kilograms, or around 108 million fine ounces. Valued at the year-end price of €3,669.106 per ounce, this gave a balance sheet value of €395.2 billion, around 46 per cent more than a year earlier.
The holdings fall slightly every year because the Bundesbank sells gold at market price to the federal government, which uses it to mint gold coins. In 2025 this came to 1,260 kilograms. The World Gold Council lists Germany in second place at the end of September 2026 with 3,349 tonnes.
Storage sites: Frankfurt, New York, London
Every year the Bundesbank publishes a list of all its bars with storage site, bar number, weight and fineness. The breakdown at the end of 2025:
The value of the holdings rose by just over 46 per cent at all three storage sites in 2025, in line with the rise in the gold price in euros. The quantities stayed almost the same; only in London did the holdings fall by one tonne to 404 tonnes. From the sale to the federal government for gold coins, the Bundesbank earned €112 million in 2025.
| Storage site | Tonnes | Share | Value (€ million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt | 1,710 | 51.0% | 201,727 |
| Federal Reserve Bank, New York | 1,236 | 36.9% | 145,831 |
| Bank of England, London | 404 | 12.1% | 47,657 |
| Total | 3,350 | 100% | 395,215 |
Where does Germany’s gold come from?
After the Second World War, the Federal Republic no longer owned any gold. The reserves were built up mainly in the 1950s and 1960s from export surpluses. The European Payments Union alone, whose balances were partly settled in gold between 1950 and 1958, brought in 1,584 tonnes. By 1958 the holdings had already reached 2,345 tonnes, and they peaked in 1968 at 4,033 tonnes.
In 1979 the Bundesbank contributed around 740 tonnes to the European Monetary Cooperation Fund; they came back in 1999. Later the Bundesbank transferred 232 tonnes to the European Central Bank. Since then the holdings have only fallen through the small sales to the federal government for collector coins.
The repatriation up to 2017
In 2013 the Bundesbank adopted a new storage plan: from 2020, half of the gold was to be held in Frankfurt. To achieve this, 374 tonnes were brought from Paris and 300 tonnes from New York to Frankfurt, 674 tonnes in total. The transfer was completed in August 2017, around three years earlier than planned. Since then, no German gold has been held at the Banque de France.
Every bar was checked on arrival in Frankfurt. According to the Bundesbank, there were no irregularities in authenticity, fineness or weight.
| Year | from Paris | from New York | total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 32 | 5 | 37 |
| 2014 | 35 | 85 | 120 |
| 2015 | 111 | 99 | 210 |
| 2016 | 105 | 111 | 216 |
| 2017 | 91 | – | 91 |
Current debate about the gold in New York
In early 2026, several politicians called for the holdings in New York to be brought back to Germany as well. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel currently sees no need for this. The Bundesbank regards the Fed as a reliable partner and says it reviews its storage plan regularly.
In choosing storage sites, the Bundesbank says it weighs security, liquidity and cost. London is the largest and most liquid gold trading centre in the world. Frankfurt also has symbolic importance as a sign of trust.
Special features
For some years the Bundesbank has published its bar list. The list as of 31 December 2025 contains around 268,000 bars. For each bar it gives the bar or melt number, gross and fine weight and fineness, broken down by storage site. A 400-ounce bar of around 12.5 kilograms is on display in the Bundesbank’s Money Museum in Frankfurt.
