Dutch central bank moves 86 tonnes of gold from U.S., Canada to London

Against a backdrop of growing economic and geopolitical uncertainty, including rising trade tensions between Canada and the U.S., one European central bank is taking steps to improve the liquidity and accessibility of its gold reserves, moving some of its holdings from New York and Ottawa to London.

Wednesday, the Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), said it has moved 86 of its 313 tonnes of gold from the U.S. and Canada to London.

The DNB said it moved the gold to strengthen its crisis preparedness and improve the liquidity and tradability of its reserves. The central bank said that its gold reserves held in New York and Ottawa cannot be utilised as quickly and directly in such a situation. The central bank said that keeping a larger share of its gold reserves in London will strengthen the function of gold as an “anchor of trust.” It added that gold is seen as the ultimate reserve asset because it is ideally suited to hedge against extreme systemic risks.

“With this relocation, we have improved the tradability of our gold reserves. We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness,” said DNB Governor Olaf Sleijpen.

Before the move, the DNB held nearly 31% of its gold domestically, about 18% in London, more than 31% in New York and nearly 20% in Ottawa. Following the transfer, 32% of its official reserves are now held in London, with New York and Ottawa holding 18.5% each.

In describing the complex transfer, the DNB said that it first sold about 59 tonnes of gold in New York and repurchased the precious metal in London. Meanwhile, more than 27 tonnes of gold were physically transferred from the United States and Canada to its vaults in Zeist, with the same amount of gold moving from the Netherlands to London.

“Combining the processes of buying and selling and physical transport has allowed DNB to spread the risks associated with such a complex physical gold relocation operation, while also ensuring efficiency and cost-consciousness,” the central bank said.

This is not the first time the Dutch have made headlines with their gold reserves. In November 2014, the DNB announced that it had repatriated 112 tonnes of gold from New York. At the time, the DNB said that the transfer was made to balance the global distribution of its reserves and increase public confidence in its finances during a period of economic uncertainty.