The Bundesbank has completed its gold transfer process earlier than originally planned. After the gold in New York was able to be transferred ahead of schedule in 2016, roughly 91 tonnes of gold still remained in Paris. This was relocated to Frankfurt this year and as a result, there are no longer any German gold reserves in Paris. "This closes out the entire gold storage plan – around three years ahead of the time we were aiming for," reported Carl-Ludwig Thiele, Member of the Bundesbank’s Executive Board, referring to the gold storage plan unveiled in 2013. This plan saw the Bundesbank storing half of Germany’s gold reserves in its own vaults in Frankfurt am Main from 2020 onwards, requiring the phased transfer of approximately 300 tonnes of gold from New York and about 374 tonnes of gold from Paris.

The following table gives an overview of the gold transferred.

	From Paris	From New York	Total	Per­centage share
	in tonnes
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 %

Now that the transfers have been completed, the Bundesbank’s gold reserves are spread as planned 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

The Bundesbank had verification measures in place throughout the entire transfer process – from when the gold was removed from the storage locations abroad until it was placed back in storage in Frankfurt am Main – to ensure that it was Germany’s gold reserves that were being transferred. Once they arrived in Frankfurt am Main, all the transferred gold bars were thoroughly and exhaustively inspected and verified by the Bundesbank. When the inspections of transfers had been concluded, no irregularities came to light with regard to the authenticity, fineness or weight of the bars.

In spring 2018, the Bundesbank will publish an updated version of its gold bar list as at 31 December 2017 on its website.