Paris: France has repatriated the final portion of its official gold reserves held in the United States, in a move that generated more than €12 billion in gains and underscored growing unease about the world's heavy dependence on the US dollar amid rising geopolitical tensions, according to a French economist.
Between July 2025 and January 2026, the Bank of France completed the transfer of the final 129 tons of gold, removing all of its holdings previously stored in the United States.
Older, non-standard bars held in New York were sold, and an equivalent amount of new, internationally standardised bars was purchased on the European market and stored in the central bank's underground vault.
The operation required no large-scale physical shipment of gold and generated approximately €12.8 billion in gains.
The move comes as central banks around the world continue to increase their gold holdings, with some countries choosing to bring reserves home for greater security.
"What are the reasons behind this recent gold policy of France? As I said, the official reason was just to adjust the quality standard. But then we can see two other reasons. The other reason is a kind of geopolitical reasons, for sovereignty reasons. Central banks now are reconsidering the importance of gold because today the dominant currency in the world is still the US dollar. But a lot of countries now think that there might be confidence problem in the US dollar because of current US policies," Eric Monnet, a professor at the Paris School of Economics, said.