Bundesbank completes gold transfer ahead of schedule

23.08.2017 DE FR

50.6 per cent of Germany’s gold reserves are now stored in Germany. This goal was set out by the Bundesbank in 2013 and was scheduled to be achieved by 2020 at the latest. “This closes out the entire gold storage plan – around three years ahead of the time we were aiming for,” said Bundesbank Executive Board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele to representatives of the press.

Carl-Ludwig Thiele being interviewed by two journalists. ©Nils Thies

Carl-Ludwig Thiele and employees of the DG Cash presenting gold bars. ©Nils Thies

Hundreds of tonnes brought in stages to Frankfurt am Main

The plan envisaged half of Germany’s gold reserves being stored in German vaults in Frankfurt am Main by 2020. To this end, around 300 tonnes of gold from New York and 374 tonnes of gold from Paris were transported to Frankfurt in several stages.

The table below provides an overview of the amounts of gold transferred.

	From Paris	From New York	Total	Share
	in tonnes			as a percentage
Transferred in 2013	32 t	5 t	37 t	5%
Transferred in 2014	35 t	85 t	120 t	18%
Transferred in 2015	111 t	99 t	210 t	31%
Transferred in 2016	105 t	111 t	216 t	32%
Transferred in 2017	91 t	./.	91 t	14%
Total	374 t	300 t	674 t	100 %

Germany’s gold reserves are now stored in only three locations: at the Bundesbank in Frankfurt am Main and at its two partner central banks, the Federal Reserve Bank in New York and the Bank of England in London. The Banque de France no longer stores any German gold. The table below shows how the gold is allocated across the remaining storage locations.

	Reserves in tonnes*	Percentage share
Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main	1,710 t	50.6%
Federal Reserve Bank, New York	1,236 t	36.6%
Bank of England, London	432 t	12.8%
Total	3,378 t	100.0%
* Rounded figures

In its storage plan, the Bundesbank is focusing on the two primary functions of the gold reserves: building trust and confidence at home, and being able to exchange gold for foreign currencies at gold trading centres abroad within a very short space of time.

Checking the authenticity of gold bars on arrival

The Bundesbank’s experts in Frankfurt am Main monitor the arrival of the gold, checking its authenticity and purity as well as the weight of the bars. In spring 2018, the Bundesbank will publish an updated version of its gold bar list as at 31 December 2017.