Central bank gold buying expected to increase in 2022.
Chart via the WGC.
Central banks are expected to continue as net gold buyers in 2022. Twenty-five percent of WGC 2022 survey respondents indicated plans to grow their gold reserves, up from 21 percent last year. And for the second year in a row, no respondents indicated their institution plans to decrease their gold holdings.
However, the WGC did note that economic and geopolitical uncertainty tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine may be creating a “divide between central bank respondents in advanced economies and those in Emerging Market and Developed Economies.”
Read on to find out the 10 top countries by central bank gold holdings. All reserve tallies were compiled using data from the WGC.
1. United States
8,133.5 MT
When it comes to the largest gold reserves, the Central Bank of America comes in at number one with 8,133.5 MT. Valued at US$528 billion, a large percentage of US gold is held in “deep storage” in Denver, Fort Knox and West Point.
As the US Treasury explains, deep storage is “that portion of the US Government-owned gold bullion reserve which the Mint secures in sealed vaults that are examined annually by the Treasury Department’s Office of the Inspector General and consists primarily of gold bars.”
The rest of US-owned reserves are held as working stock, which is described as the “gold reserve which the Mint uses as the raw material for minting congressionally authorized coins and consists of bars, blanks, unsold coins and condemned coins.”
2. Germany
3,358.5 MT
The Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, currently owns 3,358.5 MT of gold, less than half the amount amassed by the US. Like many of the central banks on this list, the German national bank stores more than half of its stock in foreign locations in New York, London and France.
The Bundesbank’s foreign gold reserves came into question in 2012, when the German Federal Court of Auditors, the Bundesrechnungshof, was openly critical of the Bundesbank’s gold auditing.
In response, the German bank issued a public statement defending the security of foreign banks. Privately, the Bundesbank then began the arduous process of repatriating its gold stock back to German soil. By 2016, more than 583 tonnes had been transferred back to Germany.
Nearly half of Germany’s gold holdings are stored in Frankfurt, more than a third in in New York, an eighth of holdings are in London and a miniscule amount are held in in Paris.
3. Italy
2,451.84 MT
Banca d’Italia, the national bank of Italy, began amassing its gold in 1893, when three separate financial institutes merged into one. From there, its 78 MT slowly grew into the 2,451.84 MT the country now owns.
Like Germany, Italy also stores parts of its reserves offshore. In total, 141.2 MT are located in the UK, 149.3 are in Switzerland and 1,061 are kept in the US Federal Reserve.
Italy houses 1,100 MT domestically.
4. France
2,436.5 MT
The Banque de France keeps all 2,436.5 MT of its gold reserves on hand. The precious metal is stored in the bank’s secure underground vault, dubbed La Souterraine; it is located 27 meters below street level.
La Souterraine’s gold vaults are one of the 4 designated gold depositories of the International Monetary Fund.
According to
Investopedia, the collapse of the Bretton Woods
gold standard system was in part due to Former President of France Charles de Gaulle when he “called the U.S. bluff and began actually trading dollars in for gold from the Fort Knox reserves.” At the time, US president Richard Nixon “was forced to take the U.S. off the gold standard, ending the dollar's automatic convertibility into gold.”
5. Russia
2,301.64 MT
The Bank of Russia is the official central bank of the Russian Federation and owns 2,301.64 MT of gold. Like France, Russia’s central bank has opted to store all its physical gold domestically.
The Bank of Russia stores two-thirds of its gold reserves in a bank building in Moscow, and the remaining one-third in Saint Petersburg.
The majority of the yellow metal is in the form of large, variable-weight standard gold bars weighing between 10 and 14 kilograms. There are also smaller bars on site weighing as much as 1 kilogram each.
Russia, which is the third largest gold producer by country, has been a steady purchaser of the precious metal since roughly 2007, with sales ramping up significantly between 2015 and early 2020. However, the Russia’s refineries are banned from selling gold bullion into the London market following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions by the West also include a freeze on about half of Russia’s gold reserves.
6. China
1,948.31 MT
The central bank for mainland China is the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), located in Beijing. The national financial institute stores 1,948.31 MT of gold, most which has been purchased since 2000. In 2001, the PBoC had 400 MT of gold in reserve, but in less than two decades that total has climbed 487 percent.
The PBoC also issues the Panda gold coin, which was first created in 1982. The Panda coin is now one of the top five bullion coins issued by a central bank. It is among the ranks of the American Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, South African Krugerrand and Australian Gold Nugget.
7. Switzerland
1,040 MT
Holding the seventh largest central bank gold reserves is the Swiss National Bank. Its 1,040 MT of gold are owned by the state of Switzerland, but the central bank manages and maintains the reserve.
After years of opaqueness regarding the country’s golden treasure trove, the Swiss Gold Initiative, or Save our Swiss Gold campaign, was launched in 2011.
The publicity culminated in a national referendum in 2014, asking citizens to vote on three proposals.
The first was a mandate for all reserve gold to be held physically in Switzerland. The other two dealt with the central bank’s ability to sell its gold reserves, along with a decree that 20 percent of the Swiss bank’s assets be held in gold.
The referendum was unsuccessful, but did prompt the bank to be more transparent. In a 2013 release, the central bank reported that 70 percent of its gold reserve was held domestically, 20 percent was located at the Bank of England and 10 percent was stored with the Bank of Canada.
8. Japan
845.97 MT
Public information about the Bank of Japan’s gold reserves is hard to come by. In 2000, the island nation was holding approximately 753 MT of the yellow metal. By 2004, the Bank of Japan’s gold store had grown to 765.2 MT, and remained at that level until March 2021 when the country purchased 80.76 MT of gold.
9. India
760.4 MT
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is another central bank on the list that has added to its holdings in recent years. The RBI began adding to its gold assets in 2017; however, the majority of its purchases have taken place in the past two years.
“While 453.52 tonnes of gold is held overseas in safe custody with the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS),” reported Business Standard, “295.82 tonnes of gold is held domestically.”
10. Netherlands
612.5 MT
Rounding out the top central bank gold reserves by country is the Dutch National Bank (DNB), the central bank of Netherlands.
Like Switzerland, the Dutch central bank stores as much as 38 percent of its gold in Canada’s national reserve. Another 31 percent, in the form of 15,000 gold bars, is held in a domestic vault, while the remaining 31 percent is located in New York’s Federal Reserve bank.
In a report, the Dutch National Bank notes that gold’s aversion to risk and reduced liability makes it the supreme safe haven asset.
“Central banks such as DNB have therefore traditionally had a lot of gold in stock. After all, gold is the ultimate nest egg: the trust anchor for the financial system,” it reads. “If the entire system collapses, the gold supply provides collateral to start over. Gold gives confidence in the strength of the central bank’s balance sheet. That gives a safe feeling.”
*11. International Monetary Fund
2,814 MT
The gold reserve held by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the third largest in terms of size. The large gold reserve was amassed primarily during the founding of the international organization in 1944.
In that inaugural year it was decided that “25 percent of initial quota subscriptions and subsequent quota increases were to be paid in gold.”
Since 1944, the IMF has also added gold through the repayment of debts owed by member countries. Nations can also exchange gold for another member country’s currency.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2020.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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Figure 1 - Cross Section GNDD-530
