Germany is stockpiling gold

Germany is accelerating a programme to bring its gold back to the country, after decades of storing the majority of its reserves overseas.

According to a statement, in the past year, the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, has moved 210 tonnes of gold into its vaults in Frankfurt, bringing 110 tonnes back from Paris, and just short of 100 tonnes from the Federal Reserve building in New York.

That now means that more of the country's gold is stored in Germany than anywhere else, and is part of a wider plan to have more than half of the gold owned by the Bundesbank in storage in Germany by 2020.

With approximately 1,403 tonnes of gold, Frankfurt has been our largest storage location, ahead of New York, since the end of last year,said Bundebank board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele.

Since the eurozone sovereign debt crisis of 2012, the Bundesbank has made efforts to be more transparent about its operations, especially its gold reserves, after accusations that it was lying about the amount of gold it holds.

"The transfers are proceeding smoothly. We have succeeded in once again significantly increasing the transport volume compared with 2014. This means that operations are running very much according to schedule," Thiele added.

Much of the world's gold is held beneath the Federal Reserve building in New York, which is thought to be one of the most secure places on earth.

Gold is an increasingly attractive asset to hold right now, thanks to the crazy volatility seen in the markets so far in 2016. Gold's status as a safe haven is widely recognised, and in times of trouble, investors tend to flock to gold, sending it's price soaring.

This year, the price of gold has risen by more than 5%, while virtually all other asset classes have tanked.