France brings the last of its gold back from New York

Tue Apr 07 2026

France has completed a further step in the reorganization of its gold reserves. As the Banque de France announced, it has completely replaced the remaining gold holdings that were still stored in New York and now holds them in its vaults in Paris. Specifically, this involved 129 tonnes of gold, representing around 5% of total holdings. This means that France’s entire gold treasure of approximately 2,437 tonnes is now located in the central bank’s underground vault in La Souterraine.

This marks the end of a decades-long chapter in which a small portion of the reserves continued to be stored at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In addition, the Banque de France is using this step to successively replace older or non-standardized bars with gold that meets modern international standards. The total physical quantity of France’s gold reserves remained unchanged, but the composition and storage location were reorganized.

France has long been one of the world’s major gold holders. A portion of this gold had been held in New York since the late 1920s. However, the repatriation of French holdings already began in the 1960s. This development coincided with the period before the end of the Bretton Woods system, when the US effectively ended the exchange of dollars for gold for foreign governments. Despite this historical movement, a small share of French gold reserves remained in New York until recently.

France’s gold reserves undergo technical restructuring

Over the past 20 years, the Banque de France has reorganized its gold reserves not only geographically but also qualitatively. The aim was to replace older or so-called non-standardized gold holdings with bars that meet today’s international market standards. The holdings stored in New York were among these older positions.

The latest step was triggered by an internal audit in 2024. Based on its recommendation, the central bank began exchanging the gold stored in the US between July 2025 and January 2026. The approach chosen is noteworthy: the Banque de France decided against refining the old bars and then transporting them to France. Instead, the holdings held in New York were sold and new gold bars were purchased in Europe.

The Governor of the Banque de France, François Villeroy de Galhau, emphasized that this decision was not politically motivated. According to his statements, Paris was chosen as the storage location because the higher-standard gold bars were purchased on a European market. The central bank is therefore presenting the measure primarily as a technical and accounting step, rather than a geopolitical signal.

Banque de France achieves high book profit through gold measure

In addition to the structure of the reserves, the market environment also played an important role. Due to the rise in gold prices, the exchange of holdings resulted in a capital gain of 13 billion euros. This effect had a significant impact on the annual results of the Banque de France. After a net loss of 7.7 billion euros in 2024, the central bank achieved a net profit of 8.1 billion euros for the 2025 financial year.

This is remarkable for the classification of France’s gold reserves because the measure was not associated with a reduction in holdings. The 129 tonnes in New York were not liquidated, but replaced by an equal amount of new bars in Europe. The financial effect therefore resulted from the exchange process in an environment of higher gold prices, not from a change in the strategic reserve level.

This shows that gold reserves are not only a security or monetary policy factor for central banks, but can also have a significant impact on the balance sheet. In the case of the Banque de France, the reorganization of a comparatively small part of the holdings contributed significantly to turning the annual result into a profit.

France’s gold reserves not yet fully converted

Despite the now completed exchange of the New York holdings, the modernization of French gold reserves is not yet fully finished. According to the Banque de France, a further 134 tonnes of gold still need to be brought up to the current standard. The central bank aims to achieve this goal by 2028.

While the repatriation of the last 129 tonnes stored in New York is a symbolically important milestone, it is not the end point of the entire program. Rather, the step fits into a longer-term strategy pursued over two decades: gradually replacing older holdings with standardized bars and consolidating French gold reserves in a modern form. For France, the result means one thing above all: the entire approximately 2,437 tonnes of gold are now located entirely in its own underground vault in Paris. At the same time, work on the technical standardization of the remaining part of the holdings remains on the agenda until 2028.

Source: https://goldinvest.de/