Europe Froze Russia’s Reserves. Now It Is Moving Its Own Gold.

Between March and August 2026, De Nederlandsche Bank moved approximately 86 tonnes of gold from the United States and Canada to London.

The DNB cited “increasing geopolitical unrest,” said it was strengthening its preparedness for severe crises, and argued that gold held at the Bank of England can be deployed more quickly because London remains the principal market for physical bullion.

The Netherlands is not alone.

The Banque de France disclosed this year that the final 129 tonnes, representing about 5 percent of French reserves, had been sold in New York and replaced with higher-standard gold in Europe. Paris presents the operation as part of a long-running programme.

Germany didn't reach the same conclusion. While between 2013 and 2016, the Bundesbank physically brought 300 tonnes of German gold back from New York to Frankfurt, alongside hundreds of tonnes from Paris.  Still, roughly a third of Bundesbank gold remains in New York, and Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel has defended the arrangement against political calls for repatriation.

Italy has had similar political discussion around its foreign-held reserves, but hasn't begun pulling bullion out of New York. Yet.

The broader shift.

The latest World Gold Council data cited in current reporting indicate that about 10 percent of surveyed central banks changed or diversified their gold-storage locations over the past year. 

After the war in Ukraine began, the European Union immobilised approximately €210 billion in assets belonging to the Central Bank of Russia. The underlying reserves remain frozen, their extraordinary revenues are being directed towards financing Ukraine.

Europe thus demonstrated that reserves held abroad can become politically unusable, and now European central banks are paying much closer attention to custody and jurisdiction.

Central bankers are professionally allergic to melodrama. When they begin moving several billion euros of national gold should sit, it is worth listening.