The increasing popularity of gold has created a tension for countries buying more of it as a hedge against global risk: Its utility depends on where it is stored.
Two of the largest gold warehouses are in New York and London, where the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of England hold reserves for foreign central banks and other institutions. The two cities are the world’s largest trading hubs for gold, and they have a history of secure and reliable storage stretching back more than a century.
There are more than 500,000 gold bars at the New York Fed, which was the largest single store of monetary gold as of the end of 2024. The amount peaked in 1973, not long after the United States removed gold as the backing of the dollar. That move effectively kicked gold from its central place in global finance.
Since 1970, central banks in many advanced European economies and the United States have sold more gold than they bought. Still, at the end of 2024, those central banks accounted for 57 percent of global gold reserves, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution, a think tank. The United States has the largest reserves, followed by Germany, Italy and France. The largest buyers today are central banks in emerging economies.
The only countries that have typically needed to worry about storing their gold in New York or London were those at risk of ending up on the wrong end of sanctions. Former Venezuelan political leaders have been in a long-running court battle to reclaim gold reserves from the Bank of England’s vaults.
But the concern has spread. President Trump’s frequent attacks on Europe have left some officials asking whether their gold would be better stored at home.
So far, the calls for gold repatriation in Europe have been isolated, coming mostly from some lawmakers and economists in Germany and Italy.
Germany repatriated some of its gold about a decade ago, but since then it has kept about half of its gold at home, a third in New York and the rest in London. About 44 percent of Italy’s gold is stored domestically, about the same amount is stored in New York and the rest is kept in Britain and Switzerland. The central banks in Germany and Italy have said they have no plans to bring their gold home.
One reason to keep gold in New York and London: Both central banks have impeccable records on security. The gold has never been stolen from either’s vaults, not even when being moved. During World War II, the gold in London was secretly moved to Canada for safekeeping for several years.
Another reason is liquidity. “They want to hold it close to where they may transact,” said Krishan Gopaul, a senior analyst at the World Gold Council.
More than 60 central banks store gold at the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, the central bank’s governor, said recently in an interview on Sky News. The Bank of England holds about 430,000 gold bars across nine vaults, meaning the central banks can buy and sell to one another without their gold’s leaving the bank’s possession.
The question of storage is most pressing for countries increasing their holdings. India has added to its overall gold reserves while reducing how much it stores at the Bank of England.
Turkey, increasing the gold it held domestically, moved all of its gold out of the New York Fed in 2017, and then out of Switzerland a year later. It had also reduced holdings at the Bank of England but later rebuilt much of those reserves in London, where they can be more easily used for transactions.
Just 20 percent of the Polish central bank’s gold reserves are stored domestically, with the rest kept at the New York Fed and the Bank of England. But it aims to have an even split in the future among Poland, New York and London, said Adam Glapinski, the governor of the National Bank of Poland.
“Domestic storage is a key pillar of geographical diversification for a simple reason: national resilience and strategic autonomy,” he said. “Let me be very clear: I do not foresee any extreme scenarios on the horizon, but my job is to plan for them.”
In contrast, the Czech Republic’s central bank has decided to keep almost all its gold in London, where it can lend it to other central banks and generate returns.
“London is the market for gold in Europe,” said Jan Kubicek, a board member of the Czech central bank. “We save money on transaction costs by using Bank of England vaults.”
For perhaps obvious reasons, many central banks keep the locations of their gold a tight secret.
China’s central bank has been one of the largest purchasers in recent years, buying for 17 consecutive months, but there are scant details about the location of its reserves. The Brazilian central bank increased its gold reserves late last year for the first time in four years, but it did not disclose where it stored them.
For decades, London and New York have dominated gold storage, but Hong Kong is trying to emerge as a challenger offering an alternative away from Western countries.
Central banks are expected to keep buying gold in large volumes, according to the World Gold Council, and where to store it will remain an important consideration.
“Risk must be humbly acknowledged and prudently managed,” Mr. Glapinski said. “That is what we do within our strategy of diversifying gold storage locations.”
Eshe Nelson is a Times reporter based in London, covering economics and business news.
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