Key Takeaways
- Assets in Europe‑domiciled active ETFs reached EUR 85.6 billion as of March 31, up from EUR 78.8 billion at the end of 2025.
- Active ETFs accounted for about 3.1% of total ETF assets in Europe, compared with 12% in the US.
- Equity strategies continued to dominate new launches, with 17 equity ETFs introduced in the first quarter of 2026.
Europe’s active exchange-traded fund market continued to expand in the first quarter of 2026. Assets in Europe‑domiciled active ETFs reached EUR 85.6 billion as of March 31, up from EUR 78.8 billion at the end of 2025 and EUR 52.5 billion at the end of 2024. Despite this rapid growth, active ETFs remain a relatively small part of the broader ETF landscape, accounting for 3.1% of total ETF assets in Europe.
Adoption in Europe remains lower than in the US, where active ETFs represent roughly 12% of total ETF assets. Nonetheless, recent asset growth reflects sustained inflows and continued expansion of the European active ETF universe.
Active ETF Product Launches Remain Elevated Into 2026
Product activity in the European active ETF market remained strong. After a sharp increase in launches during 2024 and 2025, issuance continued at an elevated pace into the first quarter of 2026. By the end of March, 36 new active ETFs had launched in Europe, with no closures recorded over the period.
Equity strategies continued to dominate new launches, with 17 equity ETFs introduced in the first quarter of 2026. Fixed‑income issuance also remained active, with 10 bond ETFs launched, alongside eight allocation strategies and one alternative strategy. This follows a year of elevated issuance in 2025, when fixed‑income launches increased materially compared with prior years.
Active ETFs: Discretionary Strategies Still Dominate Assets
Using Morningstar’s classification framework, European active ETFs can be categorized as discretionary or systematic strategies. Discretionary strategies are those in which portfolio decisions are primarily driven by manager judgment, while systematic strategies follow transparent, rules‑based models with limited discretion.
As of the end of the first quarter, discretionary strategies accounted for about 75% of total active ETF assets, equivalent to EUR 64.1 billion. Equity discretionary strategies represent the largest share, followed by discretionary fixed‑income strategies. This reflects, in large part, the market leadership of J.P. Morgan, whose active ETF range is almost entirely discretionary across both equity and fixed income.
Systematic strategies accounted for around 25% of total active ETF assets, or close to EUR 21.0 billion, by the end of March 2026. Most systematic assets are concentrated in equity strategies, while fixed‑income active ETFs remain predominantly discretionary.
In 2025 and into the first quarter of 2026, systematic equity ETFs attracted stronger flows than discretionary equity ETFs. In the first quarter of 2026, systematic equity strategies gathered EUR 3.0 billion of net inflows, compared with EUR 872 million for discretionary equity strategies.
In fixed income, discretionary strategies continue to dominate flows. During the first quarter of 2026, discretionary fixed‑income ETFs attracted over EUR 2.5 billion, while systematic bond strategies gathered EUR 158 million.
The market remains concentrated, but changes in provider rankings, most notably iShares overtaking Pimco, highlight incremental shifts within a rapidly growing segment of the European ETF market.
Taken together, asset growth, sustained inflows, elevated product launches, and a gradually diversifying provider landscape indicate that Europe’s active ETF market continues to expand from a small base. While discretionary strategies remain dominant, systematic equity strategies have gained share, and fixed‑income offerings have expanded further since 2025.
Download our full report here. Stay tuned for our quarterly updates on the European ETF landscape, where we will continue to explore the key trends shaping the ETF market.
