The Netherlands has moved its gold from the US to Britain because of “increasing geopolitical unrest”.
The Dutch central bank has relocated 86 tonnes of the precious metal to the Bank of England, mostly from New York, as part of its process of “strengthening its crisis preparedness”.
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the country’s central bank, said better distribution of the gold would make it easier to trade and spread risks, and would make it more readily available to use in a crisis.
DNB made no mention of what kind of crisis it was preparing for. However, fears that Donald Trump could impose a tariff on gold previously triggered a scramble to move it out of the US.
Future prices in New York rose to a premium of more than $100 (£74) compared to London as banks, refiners and dealers raced to secure metal for delivery.
Mr Trump eventually clarified that gold would be exempt from tariffs. However, analysts warned that the episode might undermine New York’s position as the largest gold-futures market.
Bullion has historically been exempt from any tariffs because of its important role in the financial system.
“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,” Olaf Sleijpen, the governor of the DNB, said.
The Netherlands held 612.4 tonnes of gold by the end of 2025, worth €72.2bn (£61.9bn). The bank relocated a portion of the reserves between March and August this year.
“In view of increasing geopolitical unrest, DNB is strengthening its crisis preparedness. Improving the liquidity and tradability of the Dutch gold reserves is part of these preparations,” the bank said in a statement.
The UK operates one of the world’s most important gold markets and the Bank of England’s underground vaults hold the second-largest haul of gold in the world.
A recent survey by the World Gold Council found that 57pc of responding central banks stored some gold at the Bank of England, making it the most widely used foreign custodian.
This includes Venezuela, whose gold has been kept in the UK despite requests from Nicolás Maduro’s government to repatriate it.
At the time of his ousting earlier this year, a lack of formal recognition of Venezuela’s new administration meant that the Bank of England declined to release the gold – then worth more than $3bn.
Maduro, the former Venezuelan president, attempted to retake the gold stored at the Bank in 2018 to prop up his nation’s collapsing economy. However, the Bank refused the request because the UK did not recognise him as Venezuela’s legitimate president.
The Maduro government sued for the return of the precious metal in 2020, but ultimately lost the case in the Supreme Court in 2023.
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dutch-shift-gold-us-uk-175414754.html
