De Nederlandsche Bank and Banque de France completed separate transactions involving 215 metric tons of gold, adjusting reserve locations and form while keeping reported totals unchanged.
The combined figure covers two different types of reserve activity: DNB’s trades and shipments, and Banque de France’s replacement of bullion sold in the United States. It is not a measure of one shipment crossing borders. Both banks said their overall gold totals were unchanged after the transactions.
Banque de France completed its work in January 2026, after starting in July 2025. It sold 129 metric tons held in New York and acquired replacement bars in Europe. The bars are stored in Paris and meet the bank’s 99.99% purity standard. Banque de France said its gold reserves remained at 2,437 metric tons.
Between March and August 2026, DNB reassigned roughly 86 metric tons of gold previously held in New York and Ottawa to London. The adjustment combined market trades with physical transfers. On markets, the bank’s New York sales came to nearly 59 metric tons, while it acquired gold in London. Separately, more than 27 metric tons went from North America to its vault in Zeist, Netherlands, before a similar amount was sent on to London.
DNB said the changes would make its gold more readily usable in a crisis and spread storage risks. DNB Governor Olaf Sleijpen said the bank needed to strengthen its “resilience and preparedness.”
The French operation changed the location and form of part of its holdings, while DNB’s included both market activity and physical movement. Their combined 215 metric tons describes two separate reserve adjustments, not a common shipment or an increase in gold holdings. The operations spanned different periods, from July 2025 through August 2026.
