Spain faces dilemma of what to do with its gold deposited at the US Federal Reserve

As the world order finds its new balance, some of the pieces in motion are made of solid gold. Major European central banks have begun repatriating their gold reserves held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Netherlands made this public last week, but France and Germany had already taken recent steps in this direction, while Italy is resisting growing public pressure to bring its reserves home. The Bank of Spain acknowledges that it holds a portion of its gold reserves in the United States, but for confidentiality reasons, it does not disclose what proportion that represents of the total, nor whether it will reallocate those reserves. The main reason is not only the distrust aroused by U.S. President Donald Trump. In 2022, the freezing of Russian assets abroad as part of the sanctions program over the invasion of Ukraine set off alarm bells in nonaligned countries. In 2024, India carried out a massive repatriation of gold it had in custody at the Bank of England, a move it later extended to reserves held in Basel. Venezuela has tried to repatriate reserves it holds in London to rebuild the country after the July earthquakes, but the UK has refused to release custody as of 2018 because it does not recognize Caracas's monetary authority. London is one of the world's largest gold trading centers, which gives reserves a great deal of liquidity. But in times of rising authoritarianism, that immediacy is no longer so attractive. 'Bringing the gold to Spain would not be a sovereigntist gesture; it would be part of the European Union's strategic autonomy framework,' says Luis Garvía, a professor at the Instituto de Estudios Bursátiles (IEB). Spain is especially secretive about the gold it manages, giving only the total figure: nine million troy ounces (281 tons), which in 2025 equaled around €33.2 billion ($38.56 billion). It is known that the vast majority is in the Bank of Spain's Gold Chamber, but an undetermined portion is at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, at the Bank of England, and in New York. Despite being the fourth-largest economy in the eurozone, Spain ranks sixth in gold holdings, tied in volume with Austria, whose central bank details its reserve distribution: the bulk is in Vienna, but the United Kingdom holds 84 tons and Switzerland 56. Unlike other European capitals, Madrid's gold is of recent acquisition. During the Spanish Civil War, the Bank of Spain sent gold to Moscow and Paris to pay for the Republican defense; by the end of the conflict the reserves had been exhausted. A few years later, the world sat down at the table at the Bretton Woods conference, where they designed the new international financial architecture based on the gold standard. Despite the Franco regime's isolationism, Spain joined the IMF in 1958 and by then had accumulated gold currency reserves that allowed it to participate in the system. Until 1972, one ounce of gold was worth $35, and with that fixed exchange rate central banks stored the metal that served as the basis for issuing currency. 'Gold is not just any financial instrument. It is the basis of monetary policy and of how to manage trust,' Garvía explains. Although the world abandoned the gold standard, central banks continue to hold gold to support currencies, alongside other assets such as foreign currency (primarily dollars) or government debt. In 2007, a few months before the Great Recession began to be felt, Madrid ordered the sale of almost a third of its gold that was considered 'unprofitable,' one reason it holds far less than its neighbors. Although each eurozone capital manages its own gold — and when asked by this newspaper the European Central Bank (ECB) said it had not issued any recommendation on repatriation — national reserves count as part of the Eurosystem's total cushion. The ECB also has its own gold, but it relies on that of others to back the common currency. Frankfurt shows a greater preference for government debt, something not all experts view favorably. Santiago Carbó, chair professor at the CUNEF university in Madrid, believes a concerted Eurosystem action would be appropriate, rather than opening the door to 'abrupt repatriations.' Market sources speaking on condition of anonymity say the amount of Spanish gold deposited at the Federal Reserve would be small, and for that reason Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, an analyst at the Willybit platform, thinks it would be better not to touch it. 'I see a very remote and highly unlikely scenario of an embargo or seizure of these reserves. The impact is symbolic... and things are already bad enough without giving anyone useless excuses,' he concludes. That is not the case for Germany, the largest holder of gold reserves in the world, which still keeps about one-third dormant in Manhattan. Financial Times estimates that Germany and Italy — where gold repatriation has become a matter of state — have around $245 billion in the United States. The trend is also for central banks to keep buying more gold as a safe haven, with particularly strong appetite from emerging markets such as Brazil. Washington's intention to ensure that the dollar is no longer the currency of last resort is yet another factor driving the price of gold on the global stage, far from Trump's sphere of influence. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition