(Al Jazeera Media Network) The Netherlands has moved billions of dollars of its gold reserves out of the United States and Canada, and transferred them to the United Kingdom amid global geopolitical tensions.
On Wednesday, the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) said it had moved the gold reserves to ensure it is “better prepared for severe crises.”
While DNB did not specify for which crises it might need to be prepared, the US is currently engaged in a trade tariff war with Canada, while Washington is conducting a war in Iran and has led operations in Venezuela and around Cuba in recent months.
Furthermore, tensions between Europe and the US have risen since the start of the US war on Iran in February this year, as Trump has made known his displeasure at the reluctance of European allies to join the war.
In a statement, DNB President Olaf Sleijpen said: “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.”
The Netherlands holds 612.4 tonnes of gold, valued at approximately 72.2 billion euros (US$83.8 billion), in gold reserves. These can serve as security in times of potential crises, where regular financial systems could fail.
As part of their standard risk diversification strategies, countries tend to spread their gold reserves around different locations.
DNB spreads these gold reserves across different locations, including its own Cash Centre in Zeist, as well as in central banks in the UK, US and Canada.
Up until now, Zeist held 30.8 percent of the Netherlands’ gold reserves, London held 18.1 percent, New York 31.3 percent, and Ottawa 19.7 percent.
Following relocation of gold reserves from North America to the UK, the spread is now as follows: Zeist, 30.8 percent; London, 32.1 percent; New York, 18.5 percent; and Ottowa, 18.5 percent.
The relocated gold was valued at about 10.11 billion euros ($11.73 billion) at the end of 2025. This was estimated at 10.34 billion euros as of 3 pm (13:00 GMT) on Wednesday in the Netherlands.
It was moved in two ways: by selling gold in one location and buying it in another; and by physically transporting gold bars from one place to another.
According to DNB, the transfer of gold reserves began with the bank first selling about 59 tonnes of gold (worth about $8.3 billion) in New York and then buying gold in London.
“More than 27 tonnes of gold (approximately $3.84 billion) was also physically transferred from the United States and Canada to Zeist, and a similar quantity of gold that meets the international market standards was transferred from Zeist to London, preventing the need to remelt gold bars,” the bank said.
In all, about $10.7 billion in gold has been moved from New York, while a little more than $1 billion has been shifted from Ottawa, at the December 2025 valuations.
“Following the recent relocation, the geographical spread of the Dutch gold reserves is now more balanced, with both the United States and Canada each holding 18.5 percent,” DNB added.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/3/why-has-the-netherlands-moved-10bn-of-its-gold-from-the-us