With the active ETF market in Europe set to hit US$1 trillion by 2030, driven by the adoption of innovative "active core" and "high-conviction active" ETFs, Michael John (MJ) Lytle, Head of Product Innovation, outlines the importance of aligning offerings with investor needs to unlock the growth potential in this dynamic sector.
The active ETF market in Europe is on track to reach US$1 trillion by 2030, according to 42% of professional investors surveyed in new research commissioned by Janus Henderson.[1] The investors surveyed collectively manage US$800 billion of assets.
How fast is the European active ETF market likely to grow?
The European active ETF market surged past US$70 billion in assets under management this summer, more than doubling in size since the start of 2024. Active ETFs still only make up 2.7% of the European ETF market, but 74% of professional investors expect this share to hit 5% by the end of next year.
Globally, the pace of growth in the active ETF sector is striking. In the first half of 2025, half of all ETFs launched globally were active according to industry consultancy ETFGI. Looking ahead, nearly 60% of survey respondents expect most ETF launches in 2026 to be active.
“Half of professional investors expect 10% of their ETF allocation will be in active strategies by next year. This is a step change for the industry as a whole and has the potential to meaningfully benefit investors in terms of efficiency and liquidity.”
– Michael John (MJ) Lytle, Head of Product Innovation.
Why are “active core” ETFs proving popular?
So far, adoption in Europe has been led by “active core” ETFs, which have a low tracking error to a benchmark and often focus on research enhanced index-based strategies. Most of the investors surveyed (72%) see these ETFs as replacement for their existing index-based passive exposures.
In contrast, uptake of “high-conviction active” ETFs, built on deep fundamental research to develop more concentrated portfolios, has so far been slower. However, 66% of respondents see high conviction active ETFs as potential replacements for traditional mutual fund exposures, suggesting significant runway for growth.
To read about how investor allocations are evolving, why fixed income and equities lead asset exposure and why it's importna to align offerings to investor needs, you can find the rest of the article here.
[1] Source: Janus Henderson Investors commissioned the market research company Pureprofile to interview 100 professional investors working for pension funds, family offices, wealth managers, insurance asset managers in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Sweden, Norway and Finland with a total of US$781.5 billion assets under management. The research was conducted in June 2025.
