Germany Hastens Return of Overseas Gold Reserves

Germany has completed the repatriation of 300 metric tons of gold stored in the US at the NY Fed several years ahead of schedule.

In the wake of financial crises that have plagued Europe in recent years, Berlin has grown insecure about keeping the country's famous gold bars abroad.

In January 2013 Berlin announced that it was planning to store half of Germany's 3,378 tons of gold reserves in its own vaults, with the other half remaining in New York and London. According to the original plan, the German central bank would transfer 300 tons of the precious metal from New York and 374 tons from Paris to a facility in Frankfurt by 2020.

But the bank sped up its schedule, completing the transfer of the rest of the 111 tons of gold from the Federal Reserve in New York in September 2016.

"The transfers were carried out without any disruptions or irregularities," according to Carl-Ludwig Thiele, a member of the Bundesbank executive board.

Thiele added that Trump's presidency was not a factor in the move, and that Bundesbank had a "trusting relationship" with the NY Fed.

In order to store half of the world's second-largest gold reserves at home, Germany has another 91 tons to be returned from Paris, and aims to get it done by the end of 2017.

During the Cold War, West Germany stashed most of its gold abroad, fearing that it could fall into the hands of the Soviet Union. Another reason was to have assets close to foreign-currency markets in London, Paris, and New York, where gold is traded.

One of the reasons behind the recent return move may be that many other nations, predominantly in East Asia, have made major moves toward a more multi-polar world, not wholly dependent upon US currency.