New Cash Centre for DNB Next Year

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) is moving its gold vault and banknote activities from its head office in Amsterdam to Camp New Amsterdam in Zeist, and is making good progress on the project, which is due to complete next year.

The chosen location, in the centre of the country, is an old air force base and logistical centre for the army, which is owned by the Ministry of Defence. It is also the centre of operations for the Royal Netherlands Marechausse, the country’s civilian and military police force, so the new cash centre will be part of an integrated security campus.

The former cash centre was located at DNB’s headquarters in Amsterdam, which are currently being renovated. The location was problematic on a number of fronts – not least of which were sub-optimum facilities for loading and unloading CIT vehicles, and the city centre location. Also, the headquarters are being refurbished to offer an open plan environment, which is not conducive for security operations.

The DNB’s gold and banknotes are currently being stored temporarily at the Royal Joh Enschedé premises in Haarlem.

Sustainability is being built into the new centre, which is in the centre of a nature reserve surrounded by forests, and which will be carbon-neutral.

It will offer improve logistics and better loading facilities for armoured trucks, and will be equipped with self-deposit ‘letterboxes’ for CIT vehicles, and an automated vault designed by PEC Automation.

In addition to storing gold and banknotes, the new cash centre will be used to check and sort euro banknotes, deliver banknotes and coins to CIT companies for onward distribution to ATMs and shops, and investigate and register counterfeit notes and coins in the National Analysis Centre.