As Part of Its New Development Strategy, Cartier Introduces the Chimo
Central banks added 1,044.6 MT of gold to their vaults in 2024, the third year in a row that gold purchases in this segment surpassed the 1,000 MT mark. In the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, central banks picked up another record 332.9 MT of gold, reported the WGC.
Yearly central bank gold purchases since 2019.
Chart via the WGC.
Twenty-nine percent of the WGC’s survey respondents indicated plans to grow their gold reserves, up 5 percent from the previous year. Three percent reported their institution is planning to decrease its gold holdings, which was unchanged from the previous year.
The WGC believes that central bank gold purchases will continue to be a major driver of gold demand in 2025.
Which central banks hold the most gold?
Read on to find out the 10 top countries by central bank gold holdings, as per data from the WGC, including recent Q4 2024 and full-year 2024 reports.
1. United States
Gold reserves: 8,133.46 MT
When it comes to the largest gold depository in the world, the American central bank is number one with 8,133.46 MT.
A large percentage of US gold is held in “deep storage” in Denver, Fort Knox and West Point. As the US Treasury explains, deep storage is “that portion of the US Government-owned gold bullion reserve which the Mint secures in sealed vaults that are examined annually by the Treasury Department’s Office of the Inspector General and consists primarily of gold bars.”
The rest of US-owned reserves are held as working stock, which the country’s mint uses as raw material to mint congressionally authorized coins.
2. Germany
Gold reserves: 3,351.53 MT
The Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, currently owns 3,351.53 MT of gold. Like many of the central banks on this list, the German national bank stores over half of its stock in foreign locations in New York, London and France.
The Bundesbank’s foreign gold reserves came into question in 2012, when the German Federal Court of Auditors, the Bundesrechnungshof, was openly critical of the Bundesbank’s gold auditing.
In response, the German bank issued a public statement defending the security of foreign banks. Privately, the Bundesbank then began the arduous process of repatriating its gold stock back to German soil. By 2016, more than 583 MT of gold had been transferred back to Germany.
Nearly half of Germany’s gold holdings are stored in Frankfurt, while more than a third are in New York, an eighth of its holdings are in London, and a miniscule amount are held in in Paris.
3. Italy
Gold reserves: 2,451.84 MT
Banca d’Italia, the national bank of Italy, began amassing its gold in 1893, when three separate financial institutions merged into one. From there, its 78 MT slowly grew into the 2,451.84 MT the country now…
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