Europe's central banks pull gold from North America, citing geopolitical risk

The Dutch central bank has relocated 86 of the roughly 313 tonnes of gold it held in the US and Canada to London, framing the move as resilience-building for a ‘severe crisis’ rather than a response to any specific imminent shock. It follows similar repatriations by France this year and Germany’s Bundesbank in the years through 2016 — a pattern that historically tracks periods of global instability, much as European banks once shifted gold to New York during the Cold War.

London was chosen for liquidity, not proximity: the Bank of England is one of the world’s largest gold custodians (roughly 400,000 bars worth over £200bn) and the deepest trading hub, making it the fastest place to buy or sell in a crisis. Notably, much of the transfer was executed as book trades — selling in New York and buying in London the same day — rather than physically shipping bullion across the Atlantic, though a few dozen tonnes were moved physically via specialist carriers like Brink’s, which reports rising central-bank demand.

The backdrop is a broader central-bank buying surge, averaging ~1,000 tonnes annually over the past four years versus ~500 the prior decade, driven by gold’s ‘safe haven’ status amid trade and military tensions, inflation, and interest-rate dynamics. Prices have hit record highs above $5,000/oz earlier this year, and Goldman forecasts ~$4,900/oz by end-2026, with central-bank demand cited as a key driver. Storage location is now a strategic decision, weighed against the cost of domestic security, auditing, and insurance.