Image Source: Pixabay

The assets under management (AUM) in the European ETF industry grew between December 31, 2015, and June 30, 2025, from €427.9 bn to €2,198.9 bn—an increase of a whopping 413.84%. But which where the drivers for this growth in the assets under management? Is it the always cited inflows into ETFs or was this increase driven by increasing markets?
As graph 1 shows, the estimated net inflows were the key driver of the growth of the assets under management in the European ETF industry between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2015. After this period the impact from the performance of the underlying markets increased.

Graph 1: Annual Estimated Net Flows and Estimated Market Impacted as Growth Drivers of the Assets Under Management in the European ETF Industry, January 1, 2000 – June 30, 2025 (in bn EUR)

(Click on image to enlarge)

Source: LSEG Lipper

This effect was to be expected since the market impact on the overall growth of the assets under management gets larger, the higher the AUM become. This means that the growth path of the assets under management in the European ETF industry gets increasingly dependent on the developments in the securities markets the higher the AUM become. This means also that predictions on the future increase in assets under management are also more and more depending on the developments in the securities markets than the actual inflows in ETF in Europe. This makes all predictions of the AUM in the future rather tricky, since nobody knows when the next drawdown hits the markets. Nor does anybody know how big this drawdown will be and how long it will take the markets to recover.

That said, so far it can be concluded that the strong growth of the inflows in the European ETF industry was able to keep pace with the growth of the impact of underlying markets (in euros) and can therefore be seen as the main driver for the growth of the assets under management in the European ETF industry. This is especially true as ETFs are the investment vehicle of choice of European investors during times of market turmoil. This means European investors are buying ETFs during market drawdowns. Hence there are inflows into ETFs while the market impact on the assets under management on the AUM is negative. Nevertheless, it is clear that this will be subject to change in the future.

Please see also our European ETF Industry Review H1 2025, for more information on the assets under management and fund flow trends.

More By This Author:

Will The ETFs In The 10 Smallest Lipper Classifications In The European ETF Industry Survive?
US Weekly Update – Sticky Inflation: Markets Position Ahead Of September Fed
S&P 500 Earnings Dashboard 25Q2 - Friday, Aug. 29