The French central bank sold all of its gold reserves held in custody in the United States, reallocating to Europe.

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According to Caixin, on April 7, the Banque de France disclosed a special project: it sold all of its gold reserves entrusted to it in the United States and, at the same time, purchased an equivalent amount of gold in Europe. This move not only ensures that the bank’s gold reserves at the beginning of 2026 remain consistent with those at the beginning of 2025, but also relies on the buy-sell price spread to generate substantial foreign exchange gains.

According to the Banque de France disclosure, this transaction involved 129 tons of non-standard gold bars, accounting for 5% of the bank’s total gold bar reserves. These gold bars have been stored at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since the late 1920s. Currently, the Banque de France has consolidated all of its gold reserves into a vault in Paris.

The transaction mainly took place between July 2025 and January 2026, and the related capital gains helped the Banque de France achieve 8.1 billion euros in net profit in 2025.

The governor of the Banque de France emphasized that the decision to consolidate the gold bars for storage in Paris rather than New York was not driven by political motives, but was based on standard considerations for trading gold in the European market: buying gold bars that meet modern standards directly is more convenient and efficient than refining and transporting old gold bars.

Declaration: There are risks in the market; investment should be approached with caution. This article is generated by AI based on third-party data and is for reference only and does not constitute personal investment advice.