Frankfurt becomes Bundesbank's largest gold storage location

The Bundesbank successfully continued its transfers of gold last year. In 2015, 210 tonnes of gold were transferred to Frankfurt am Main from storage locations abroad: around 110 tonnes from Paris and just under 100 tonnes from New York. "With approximately 1,403 tonnes of gold, Frankfurt has been our largest storage location, ahead of New York, since the end of last year," said Carl-Ludwig Thiele, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank. "The transfers are proceeding smoothly. We have succeeded in once again significantly increasing the transport volume compared with 2014. This means that operations are running very much according to schedule," added Thiele.

According to its gold storage plan, unveiled in 2013, the Bundesbank will be storing half of Germany's gold reserves in its own vaults in Frankfurt am Main from 2020 onwards. This necessitates a phased transfer to Frankfurt am Main of 300 tonnes of gold from New York and all 374 tonnes of gold from Paris.

Since the transfers began in 2013, the Bundesbank has brought a total of around 366 tonnes of gold to Frankfurt am Main – 177 tonnes from Paris and 189 tonnes from New York. This is equivalent to roughly 54.4% of the total quantity to be transferred. The following table gives an overview of the gold that has been transferred to date.

From
Paris
in tonnes
From
New York
in tonnes
Total

in tonnes
Share
as a percentage
To be transferred by 2020

373.7t

300.0t

673.7t

100%

Transferred in 2013

31.6t

5.0t

36.6t

5.4%

Transferred in 2014

35.2t

84.5t

119.7t

17.8%

Transferred in 2015

110.5t

99.5t

210.0t

31.2%

Transferred to date

177.3t

189.0t

366.3t

54.4%

Still to be transferred

196.4t

111.0t

307.4t

45.6%


As at 31 December 2015, the Bundesbank's gold reserves were stored at the following locations.

Reserves
in tonnes
Share
as a percentage
Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main

1,402.5t

41.5%

Federal Reserve Bank, New York

1,347.4t

39.9%

Bank of England, London

434.7t

12.9%

Banque de France, Paris

196.4t

5.8%

Total

3,381.0t

100.0%

Discrepancies in the totals are due to rounding.

The Bundesbank assures the identity and authenticity of German gold reserves throughout the transfer process – from when they are removed from the storage locations abroad until they are stored in Frankfurt am Main. Once they arrive in Frankfurt am Main, all the transferred gold bars are thoroughly and exhaustively inspected and verified by the Bundesbank. When all the inspections of transfers to date had been concluded, no irregularities came to light with regard to the authenticity, fineness and weight of the bars.