More than 30 tons of gold were “physically transferred” from the United States and Canada to the Dutch bank’s vault in the town of Zeist.

Data: World Gold Council; Chart: Emily Peck/Axios The Dutch central bank said this week that it was shifting about 86 tonnes of gold bars out of New York and Canada and moving them closer to home. Why it matters: Countries are rethinking where they stash their gold reserves,

The Dutch central bank, citing the potential for a “crisis situation”, has moved some of its gold from New York to London.

The Netherlands has moved about 86 tonnes of gold from the US and Canada, increasing London's share of its reserves. The Dutch central bank says the move is aimed at diversification, preparedness and making the gold easier to trade.

The Dutch central bank said it moved around 86 metric tons of gold from New York and Ottawa as part of the bank’s crisis preparedness

The Netherlands and France have shifted gold reserves as geopolitical tensions put new focus on where Europe keeps its bullion.

The Netherlands moved some 90 tons of gold out of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, the second European nation this year to announce it had decreased or eliminated U.S. gold holdings.

The Netherlands is the second country to pull its gold reserves out of the U.S. this year and the third in less than a decade.

DNB has not described the move as politically motivated. Instead, it has repeatedly framed it as risk diversification and crisis planning.

The Netherlands said it had reduced the share of its gold reserves held in North America from 51% to 37% in response to "increasing geolpolitical risk."

The move to improve liquidity of gold is “not normal behavior,” said UBS’s Paul Donovan.