Gold bars from the vault of a bank are seen in this illustration picture taken in Zurich November 20, 2014. The "Save our Swiss gold" proposal, spearheaded by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), aims to ban the central bank from offl
Gold bars from the vault of a bank are seen in this illustration picture taken in Zurich November 20, 2014. The "Save our Swiss gold" proposal, spearheaded by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), aims to ban the central bank from offloading its reserves and oblige it to hold at least 20 percent of its assets in gold. The referendum is scheduled for November 30. The SVP argues it would secure a stable Swiss franc. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

Germany's been moving its gold stockpile away from its foreign storage depots. Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, said on Monday some 120 tonnes of gold have been transferred to Frankfurt.

Of the figure, 35 tonnes came from Paris, while 85 tonnes were from New York. The repatriation occurred in 2014, Bundesbank said, without specifically mentioning exact dates. But the bank did say the transfers of Germany's gold is going smoothly and is in accordance with its new gold storage plan.

The central bank's new gold storage plan, unveiled in January 2013, mandates that Bundesbank, from 2020 onwards, store half of Germany's gold reserves in its own vaults. To effect this, the bank said it must conduct a phased transfer of 300 tonnes of gold from New York and all 374 tonnes of gold from Paris to Frankfurt am Main.

Since the implementation date, Bundesbank has relocated a total of 157 tonnes of gold to Frankfurt am Main, or 23 percent of the total quantity to be transferred. Data from the World Gold Council showed Germany owns the second biggest gold reserves in the world, next to the United States. Bundesbank revealed the following table in a statement:

From
Paris
in tonnes

From
New York
in tonnes

Total

in tonnes

Share

as a percentage

To be transferred
by 2020

374t

300t

674t

100%

Transferred
in 2013

32t

5t

37t

5,5%

Transferred
in 2014

35t

85t

120t

17,8%

Transferred
to date

67t

90t

157t

23,3%

Still to be transferred

307t

210t

517t

76,7%

As of Dec 31, 2014, the Bundesbank's gold reserves were stored at the following locations.

Reserves
in tonnes

Share
as a percentage

Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main

1.192t

35,2%

Federal Reserve Bank, New York

1.447t

42,8%

Bank of England, London

438t

12,9%

Banque de France, Paris

307t

9,1%

Total

3.384t

100,0%

Central banks around the world have been repatriating gold back to their respective home soil to assure global governments the safe haven yellow metal can be used anytime as a reserve asset should a monetary crisis emerge. Germany's gold holdings, according to portal marketoracle.co.uk, have been kept in the vaults of other central banks since its defeat in the World War II as well as during the Cold War.

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