The Dutch central bank just made a move that says a lot about where the world’s most conservative financial institutions think risk is headed. De Nederlandsche Bank relocated 86 tons of gold from North American vaults to London in early September 2026, citing the need for better liquidity and crisis preparedness.
What actually moved, and where
The gold traveled from storage facilities in New York, at the US Federal Reserve, and in Ottawa, at the Bank of Canada, to vaults in London, primarily at the Bank of England. DNB’s total reserves sit at approximately 612 tons, so this reallocation represents a meaningful slice of the portfolio without changing the overall size of the stockpile.
Before the move, DNB’s gold was spread roughly as follows: 31% in the Netherlands, 31% in New York, around 20% in Ottawa, and 18% in London. The shift toward London increases that last figure considerably, pulling weight away from both North American locations.
The logic is straightforward: London is the world’s dominant hub for physical gold trading. The Bank of England’s vaults alone held around 9,534 tons of gold as of July 2026, making them the gravitational center of the global market. Parking reserves there means a central bank can move gold into the market faster and at tighter spreads when it needs to.
