Olaf Sleijpen of the Dutch central bank announced the relocation of billions of dollars in gold reserves from North America to London.

The Dutch central bank (DNB) announced that it moved approximately 86 metric tons of gold from New York and Ottawa to London between March and August. This relocation was part of a strategy to improve the tradability of the bank's reserves and strengthen its crisis preparedness amid global political unrest.

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Olaf Sleijpen, the governor of the Dutch central bank, stated that while the bank expects it may never need to use the reserves in a crisis, it is necessary to strengthen resilience. The bank noted that gold held in London meets modern international trade standards and is regarded as the world's most easily tradable gold, whereas the gold held in New York and Ottawa cannot be utilized as quickly or directly in a crisis situation. The relocation was achieved through both physical transfers and sales. More than 27 metric tons of gold were physically moved from the United States and Canada to a vault in Zeist, Netherlands, before being moved to London. The remaining gold was relocated by selling 59 metric tons in New York and using the proceeds to buy gold in London.

Sources

• CNN
  Dutch central bank shifts billions in gold from US to Britain in ‘crisis preparedness’ move
• CNBC
  Dutch central bank moves gold bars out of U.S. and Canada, citing ‘crisis preparedness’

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Paywall and unreadable sources

• Financial Times
  Dutch central bank moves gold bars out of New York over ‘geopolitical unrest’
• BBC
  Netherlands moves billions in gold to London in 'crisis preparedness' move
• Yahoo Finance
  The Netherlands Just Pulled 86.4 Tons of Gold Out of the U.S. to Improve “Crisis Readiness” Amid Global Tensions