Dutch central bank to move gold reserves out of Amsterdam

DutchNews, October 6, 2016

Gold stored in the central bank vaults. Photo: DNB

The Dutch central bank is planning to move the country’s gold reserves from the centre of Amsterdam to land owned by the defence ministry near Zeist. 

The security measures necessary to guard the gold are a problem for both staff and visitors, the bank said in a statement on Thursday. 

The aim is to move the gold to the new location, Camp New Amsterdam, at the beginning of 2022. The new complex, dubbed the Cash Centre, will also be used to sort and distribute bank notes and to hunt for fake cash.

In total, some 189,000 kilos of gold are stored in Amsterdam but the bank has total reserves of 612,000 kilos.

In order to spread the risk, Dutch gold is also held in central banks in New York, Ottawa and London, although in 2014, 122.5 tons of gold reserve were brought back to Amsterdam from New York.

The total is worth some €23bn at current gold prices.