Image Source: Pixabay

A lot has been said about the growth of active ETFs in Europe since this kind of ETFs made a lot of headlines over the course of the last two years. Nevertheless, it is important to see if investors and market observers not only talk the talk, or if the first ones do also walk the walk.

A general view on the assets under management (AUM) in the European ETF industry shows that actively managed ETFs held €100.7 bn in AUM at the end of October 2025. This equals 3.98% of the overall assets under management in the European ETF industry. This means that passive ETFs held €2,429.3 bn, or 96.02%, of the overall AUM.

As actively managed ETFs are still in their infancy, it was to be expected that the market share hasn’t grown too much over the course of the first 10 months of 2025. That said, a view of the assets under management of actively managed ETFs show that the AUM have increased by nearly 50% over the course of the year so far. A quite significant increase, which does signalize that actively managed ETFs are a growth segment within the European ETF industry, as there is significant investor demand for these products.

Graph 1: Market Share of Assets Under Management in the European ETF Industry by Product Type

(Click on image to enlarge)

Source: LSEG Lipper

This demand is shown in the steady estimated net inflows in actively managed ETFs. which enjoyed monthly estimated net inflows of €3.2 bn on average for the year so far. Even as seem to be a small number, it equals an average of 11.91% of the estimated monthly inflows for the year so far.

Graph 2: Estimated Net Flows in the European ETF Industry by Product Type, January 1, 2025 – October 31, 20225 (in bn EUR)

(Click on image to enlarge)

Source: LSEG Lipper

An even better way to analyze the impact of the estimated net flows on the growth of actively managed ETFs is to compare the estimated net flows with assets under management. Such an analysis shows that the estimated net inflows into actively managed ETFs stood on average at 3.99% of the AUM, while this ratio stood 1.15% for passive ETFs.

Even as it may take some more time before actively managed ETFs will hit a double-digit market share of the assets under management in the European ETF industry, the numbers above do clearly indicate, that actively managed ETFs do grow on a much faster pace than their passive peers.

From my point view, the trend towards actively managed ETFs has just started and will continue for the foreseeable future. I assume that the growth rate for the assets under management in actively managed ETFs will increase even further, as investors in Europe have just started to discover the opportunities offered by actively managed ETFs, while asset managers have just started to realize the advantages of ETFs and ETF share classes with regard to their fund distribution strategies.

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