The Bank of France has carried out a financial operation intended to set a precedent. It sold its gold reserves held in New York, replacing them with higher quality ingots now held in Paris. In doing so, it achieved an extraordinary capital gain of 12.8 billion euros. The result transformed a potential loss into a net profit of 8.1 billion for 2025, reversing the red of 7.7 billion recorded the previous year.
An operation in 26 transactions worth 13 billion euros
The intervention did not materialize in a single movement, but in a strategy divided into 26 transactions carried out between July 2025 and January 2026, for a total value of 13 billion euros. At the heart of the operation are 129 tonnes of gold, equivalent to around 5% of France’s total gold reserves (2,437 tonnes), previously held in the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Paris sold these ingots, which were older and did not comply with current standards, and purchased an equivalent quantity of gold compliant with international standards, now held on French territory.
There was no physical transfer of metals between continents: it was a market operation, conducted to take advantage of the record gold prices recorded in the last year. The Bank of France is progressively replacing obsolete gold reserves with bullion compliant with the standards of the London Bullion Market Association. A 2024 internal audit had already recommended accelerating this process, particularly for the stake held in New York.
Governor François Villeroy de Galhau specified that the new ingots are kept in Paris because gold with a purity greater than 99.5% is mainly traded on the European market, excluding political motivations. A choice which, in fact, also reduces exposure to potential risks linked to the United States.
The Bank of France is positive
The overall capital gain is equal to 12.8 billion euros, broken down as follows:
- 11 billion accounted for in 2025;
- 1.8 billion in the first months of 2026.
In the absence of this extraordinary gain, the Bank of France would probably have closed 2025 at a loss, as is happening to other large central banks.
The ranking of the largest gold reserves in the world
With 2,437 tons of gold, France holds the fourth largest gold reserve in the world. The ranking is as follows:
- United States: approximately 8,133 tons;
- Germany: approximately 3,355 tonnes;
- Italy: approximately 2,452 tonnes;
- France: approximately 2,437 tonnes;
- Russia: between 2,299 and 2,330 tonnes;
- China: over 2,000 tonnes (between approximately 2,011 and over 2,200);
- Switzerland: approximately 1,040 tonnes;
- Japan: approximately 846 tons;
- India: between approximately 787 and over 800 tonnes;
- Netherlands: approximately 612 tonnes.
The modernization process, however, is not yet finished. There remain 134 tonnes of old ingots and coins stored in Paris which need to be brought up to international standards. The Bank of France aims to complete this process by 2028.
Italy and Germany are also thinking about it
The strategy adopted by Paris is observed with great interest by other European countries. In June 2025 the Financial Times reported that Italy and Germany are considering the repatriation of their gold reserves held in Manhattan. Currently, the Bundesbank keeps 37% of its gold (about 1,236 tons) in the United States, while Italy holds 43% of its reserves there.
In Germany, experts and Bundesbank officials have publicly stated that keeping such a large share of gold in the United States appears risky and that greater strategic autonomy would require bringing some of it back home. In Italy, the issue also has a strong internal political significance. The ruling Fratelli d’Italia party has been raising the possibility of repatriating the gold reserves for years, but so far without concrete results.
