Federal Reserve FEDS Note: Euro Area Central Banks Relocate Gold from the U.S. Without Reducing U.S. Dollar Reserves
In a FEDS note, Federal Reserve staff member Colin Weiss examines cases where Germany, the Netherlands, and France relocated gold reserves from the United States since 2013, finding that these central banks did not significantly reduce their share of U.S. dollars in foreign exchange reserves during the relocation, contrasting with Russia and Turkey, which substantially cut dollar holdings while moving gold.
Does the relocation of gold reserves from the United States signal a weakening of the U.S. dollar's reserve status? In a FEDS note published in November 2026, Federal Reserve staff member Colin Weiss provides a data-driven negative answer by reviewing the repatriation cases of three euro area central banks—Germany, the Netherlands, and France—since 2013. The analysis shows that while these central banks transferred gold out of U.S. vaults, the share of the U.S. dollar in their foreign exchange reserves did not experience a substantial decline.
This finding is significant because it distinguishes between two different behavioral patterns. For Russia and Turkey, gold repatriation occurred simultaneously with a reduction in U.S. dollar holdings: Russia accumulated gold and reduced its dollar positions in the 2010s due to concerns over U.S. financial sanctions; Turkey moved gold stored in the United States and the United Kingdom back to its domestic territory in 2018 amid geopolitical tensions, while significantly lowering its share of dollar reserves. For these two countries, the core motivation for repatriating gold was to evade sanctions and asset freeze risks, and since U.S. dollar assets themselves are tools of sanction, the two decisions were logically consistent.
The situation in the euro area is different. Between 2013 and 2017, Germany transferred approximately one-fifth of its gold held in the United States to domestic vaults, maintaining its share of dollar foreign exchange reserves at around 90% during this period, and currently exceeding 80%. In 2014, the Netherlands repatriated about two-fifths of its U.S.-custodied gold to Amsterdam, with its dollar share remaining stable at approximately 83%. From 2025 to early 2026, France moved all its U.S.-held gold back home, with its dollar share stabilizing at 60%. Weiss notes in a footnote that the official statements from these central banks regarding gold relocation do not list sanctions or expropriation risks as primary motivations.