For decades, storing national gold reserves in New York and London was considered a normal part of the international financial system.
The logic was straightforward: the world’s major financial centres offered security, liquidity and immediate access to international bullion markets. But that logic is changing.
Bullion is gold, silver, or other precious metals in the form of bars or ingots, typically used for institutional investment or central bank reserves.
France has eliminated the remaining portion of its gold previously stored in New York. The Netherlands has substantially reduced its New York holdings and increased the amount held in London. Germany had already moved hundreds of tonnes back to Frankfurt.
These decisions do not amount to a wholesale rejection of the United States. But they reveal something increasingly important: Central banks are reconsidering where their most strategic assets should physically reside.
France Brings the Last of Its New York Gold Home
France held approximately 129 tonnes of gold in New York, representing around 5% of its total reserves.
Between 2025 and early 2026, Banque de France replaced these holdings with modern bullion stored in Europe.
Rather than simply flying old gold bars from New York to Paris, the central bank sold the New York holdings and acquired equivalent bullion meeting current international market standards.
France’s total reserve remained approximately 2,437 tonnes. The important change was geographical.
France no longer needed to maintain part of its sovereign gold reserve in New York.
French authorities presented the operation primarily as an upgrade of the quality and tradability of the reserve rather than as a political move against the United States.
Nevertheless, the strategic result is significant: greater domestic control over one of France’s most important reserve assets.
The Netherlands Chooses London
The Netherlands has taken a slightly different approach. In 2026, the Dutch central bank relocated approximately 86 tonnes of gold from North America, including more than 78 tonnes from New York. But instead of bringing all of it home, the Netherlands substantially increased its holdings in London.
After the change, Dutch gold was distributed more evenly between: the Netherlands, London, New York and Ottawa. This reveals an important distinction.
Gold relocation does not necessarily mean gold repatriation.
The Dutch strategy is about diversification.
London was selected because of the exceptional liquidity of the British bullion market and the ease with which gold held there can be traded or mobilised in a crisis.
Market liquidity is a market's feature whereby an individual or firm can quickly purchase or sell an asset without causing a drastic change in the asset's price.
In other words, the Netherlands is trying to achieve both: sovereignty and liquidity.
Germany Started Earlier
Germany provides one of the clearest precedents. Beginning in 2013, the Bundesbank implemented a major programme to increase the proportion of German gold held domestically.
Between 2013 and 2016, approximately: 300 tonnes moved from New York to Frankfurt while another large quantity was transferred from Paris.
Germany ultimately established a policy under which roughly half of its reserves would be held at home. But Germany did not abandon New York.
A substantial proportion of German bullion remains there because New York continues to provide access to one of the world’s most important dollar-based financial markets. That balance may increasingly become the model other central banks follow.
Why Central Banks Are Reassessing Gold Storage
Several forces are driving this change.
1. Sovereign control
Gold held domestically is directly accessible to the national central bank. There is no foreign legal system or geopolitical relationship between the state and the asset. That matters more in an era of sanctions and international political confrontation.
Central bank is an institution that manages a state's currency, money supply, and interest rates, and oversees the commercial banking system.
2. Geopolitical risk
Recent conflicts have shown that foreign-held financial assets can become subject to freezing, restrictions or political decisions. Gold is traditionally regarded as a reserve asset without counterparty risk. But if it is physically located abroad, geopolitical considerations can still matter.
3. Liquidity
Keeping all gold at home is not always optimal. London and New York remain extraordinarily important gold markets. A central bank may therefore deliberately hold part of its reserve abroad so that bullion can be quickly traded or pledged during a financial crisis.
4. Geographic diversification
The new philosophy is increasingly: Do not keep everything in one place.
Central banks may want a combination of: domestic custody, New York liquidity, London liquidity, and potentially additional international locations.
Gold Is Becoming More Strategic
The debate is occurring at the same time that central banks around the world are increasing their interest in gold itself. For several years, global central-bank gold purchases have remained historically high.
This means reserve managers are now considering two different questions at the same time: How much gold should we own? and Where should we keep it? The second question is becoming much more political than it once was.
Not an Anti-American Movement — Yet
It would be an exaggeration to describe the current changes as a mass flight from the United States. France described its operation as technical. Germany continues to maintain substantial reserves in New York. The Netherlands still keeps part of its gold there. New York remains one of the world’s most important gold-storage centres. But something fundamental is changing.
Central banks increasingly appear unwilling to assume that concentrating sovereign assets abroad is automatically the best solution.
The new reserve strategy is diversification: home for control, London or New York for liquidity, and less dependence on any single jurisdiction.
In the emerging geopolitical economy, the location of gold is becoming part of national risk management. And that could gradually redraw the geography of the world’s monetary reserves.
We think you might also like these articles:What Is Happening with Interest Rates, Credit and Investment
Sources of Growth for the Global Economy 2026
How the World Economy Could Look in 2050: Asia Takes the Lead