Interesting that more countries seem to start repatriating their precious metals stored elsewhere. I wonder why is the urge.
The Netherlands Has Repatriated 122.5t Gold From US
The Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), has repatriated in utmost secret 122.5 tonnes of gold from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) to its vaults in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, according to a press release from DNB published today (November 21, 2014).
DNB states it has changed allocation policy from 11 % in Amsterdam, 51 % at the FRBNY, 20 % in Canada and 18 % at the Bank Of England (BOE); to 31 % in Amsterdam, 31 % at the FRBNY, 20 % in Canada and 18 % at the BOE. According to the World Gold Council’s latest data DNB has 612.5 tonnes in official gold reserves.
Source: the WGC, DNB
Translation DNB press release:
DNB Adjusts Gold Reserves Allocation Policy
Press release, date November 21, 2014.
De Nederlandsche Bank has adjusted its allocation policy for its gold reserves. To achieve a more balanced distribution of gold over the various locations, DNB has shipped gold from the US to the Netherlands.
In the old situation 11% of the gold reserves were located in the Netherlands, 51% in the US, with the remainder in Canada (20%) and the UK (18%). The location distribution according to the revised policy is as follows: 31% in Amsterdam, 31% in New York, while the percentages for Ottawa and London with 20 and 18 % remain unchanged.
This adjustment of DNB joins other central banks that store a larger share of their gold reserves in their own country. Next to a more balanced distribution of the gold reserves over the different locations, this can also contribute to more trust towards the public.
The distribution of gold stocks over various locations is often subjected to change. For example, in the period after the Second World War until the early seventies DNB added a lot to its gold reserves - underBretton Woods - especially in New York. Since then, more mutations occurred. The main reasons for this have been the
gold sales over the past decades and the closure of the vaults of the Reserve Bank of Australia, which made DNB ship gold from Australia to the UK in 2000.
A few weeks ago I heard a rumor that the Netherlands were repatriating some of their official gold reserves from the FRBNY. From one of my sources I even heard which security logistics company was shipping the metal, but I was kindly asked to not share this company’s name.
Global Consequences
The impact of the Dutch gold repatriation can be huge.
First of all, because it underlines more and more countries are getting nervous about their gold reserves stored in the US. Venezuela repatriated most of its reserves from abroad in 2012, the year Germany also announced a repatriation schedule from the US and France. While Germany settled with the US to ship 300 tonnes spread over 8 years, the Dutch set a new trend to insist on immediate delivery. If more counties will follow this trend there can be a global run on gold.
Recently the Swiss people also got nervous about the Swiss National Bank (SNB) its gold policy and asked for
a referendum to store all of the official gold reserves on Swiss soil. The Swiss referendum is held on November 30 and will most likely be influenced by the repatriation of The Netherlands.
