On March 26, 2026, LSEG Lipper announced the winners of the first LSEG Lipper Fund Awards Europe 2026 Passive at the Leonardo Royal London St Paul’s.
This in-person event gathered investment professionals from all over Europe who wanted to celebrate their success over the last three, five, and 10 years with the other winners, industry experts, and journalists.
Most market observers are still dividing the European fund industry into mutual funds and ETFs as synonyms for actively managed and passive products, forgetting that index tracking mutual funds are around for decades. Anyhow, this approach to define the market is far from the reality.
Asset managers from Europe and other parts of the world have become agnostic with regard to the distribution wrapper they use for their investment strategies and have started to use the ETF wrapper as distribution wrapper for both active and passive investment strategies.
With that change in the markets in mind, the research team from Lipper has started to rethink the awards methodology and decided to split our well known and prestigious Lipper Fund Awards up into passive and active awards.
While the Lipper Fund Awards for active products saw only the addition of actively managed ETFs and the exclusion of index tracking mutual funds as changes to their methodology, the awards for passive products are new.
To align the methodologies, the Lipper Fund Awards for passive products are based on the same quantitative criteria as the awards for actively managed products.
Different methodologies lead to different results
Contrary to most other awards for ETFs or passive products the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards are purely based on quantitative measures. This means there are no judging panels or votes used to determine the winners of a LSEG Lipper Fund Award. We do also not look at the funds and ETFs with the highest returns over the respective awards periods. In actuality, the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards are based on the Lipper Leader rating for Consistent Return. These ratings are calculated using a utility function based on the effective return over multiple non-overlapping periods—within the respective three-, five-, and 10-year horizons. The calculations over multiple periods ensure that all periods in which a passive product underperforms the average of its peer group are identified. Then LSEG Lipper uses a utility function based on behavioral finance theory to penalize periods of underperformance against the peer group average.
From an investor point of view, the calculation methodology ensures that the winners of the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards are funds or ETFs that have provided relatively superior consistency and risk-adjusted returns compared to a group of passive products with a similar investment objective. Therefore, funds or ETFs that receive a LSEG Lipper Fund Award may be the best fit for investors who value a fund’s year-to-year consistency relative to other funds/ETFs in a particular peer group.
In contrast to the single country awards, where all funds from the eligible asset classes with a sales registration in the respective country are taken into consideration, the fund universe for the European fund awards is composed of funds with UCITS status which are registered for sale in at least three out of 31 European countries composed of the 27 EU member state countries and the four EFTA countries.
A document outlining the full methodology for the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards can be found here.
The best passive products in Europe
An in-depth view of the winners list shows that no index tracking mutual fund has won a LSEG Lipper Fund Award Europe 2026 Passive. There were 1,124 index tracking mutual funds and ETFs eligible for a LSEG Lipper Fund Award in Europe. Out of this product universe, the fund awards honor those products which had the highest score in the Lipper Leader rating for Consistent Return over the three-, five-, and 10-year periods.
Overall, there were 38 ETFs that won an award for the three-year period. Also, 34 ETFs were recognized with a LSEG Lipper Fund Award Europe 2026 Passive over the five-year period, and 16 ETFs won the prestigious trophy for the 10-year period. The complete lists of the winning funds can be found on our awards website.
Equity Europe
UBS EURO STOXX 50 ESG UCITS ETF EUR dis won the LSEG Lipper Fund Award Europe 2026 Passive for the Equity Europe category over the three- and five-year period, while iShares Dow Jones Eurozone Leaders Screened UCITS ETF (DE) was tops over 10 years.
Equity Europe Income
Xtrackers EURO STOXX Quality Dividend UCITS ETF 1D took the LSEG Lipper Fund Award Europe 2026 Passive for the Equity Europe Income category over the three-year period, while Invesco EURO STOXX High Dividend Low Volatility UCITS ETF Dist won for the five-year period and iShares STOXX Europe Select Dividend 30 UCITS ETF (DE) was named the best fund over the 10-year period.
Equity Europe Small- and Mid-Cap
iShares MSCI EMU Mid Cap UCITS ETF EUR (Acc) was named the LSEG Lipper Fund Award Europe 2026 Passive winner for Equity Europe Small- and Mid-Cap over the three-year period, while SPDR MSCI Europe Small Cap Value Weighted UCITS ETF won over the five-year period, and UBS MSCI EMU Small Cap UCITS ETF EUR dis was tops over the 10-year period.
The best passive asset management groups in Europe
The group awards are divided into those for large and small asset management groups based on a regional assets-under-management split. It is not enough for a fund management company to hold just one large fund. A large management group must have at least five equity, five bond, and three mixed-assets portfolios, while a small group must have at least three equity, three bond, and three mixed-assets portfolios. Since only a limited number of promoters of passive products were able to fulfill these minimum requirements, the number of eligible asset managers for the single asset type categories, as well as for overall category was in most categories too small to calculate the respective award. As a result, the following list of winners does look somewhat incomplete, but is actually the full winners list.
Within the bond segment, Vanguard, outperformed 7 competitors in its category and was named the best large bond product manager for the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards Europe 2026 Passive.
HANetf outperformed its 4 opponents and was named the best small asset manager in the equity segment. Vanguard won the trophy as the best large asset manager of equity funds, beating 16 competitors in terms of consistent outperformance.
As mixed-assets, measured by the number of products and assets under management, are not a core category in the European ETF industry and for passive products in general, it is no surprise that there were no group award winners in this category.
Since an eligible offering of mixed-assets products is mandatory to win an overall group award, it was also not possible to determine winning groups for the overall awards.
The number of winners of a group award, as well as the number of recognized Lipper global classifications for the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards Europe Passive should go up over the coming years, as an increasing number of ETFs and index tracking mutual funds are getting old enough to become eligible for a LSEG Lipper Fund Award. This is especially true for mixed-assets products. The growing number of products will make LSEG Lipper Fund Awards Europe Passive even more competitive and ensure that this award recognizes the fund managers that are setting benchmarks within the industry.
The views expressed are the views of the author and not necessarily those of LSEG. This material is provided as market commentary and for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment research or advice. LSEG cannot be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss resulting from applying any of the information provided in this publication or from any other source mentioned. Please consult with a qualified professional for financial advice.
About LSEG Lipper Fund Awards:
For more than 30 years and in over 17 countries worldwide, the highly-respected LSEG Lipper Awards have honoured funds and fund management firms that have excelled in providing consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers and focus the investment world on top-funds. The merit of the winners is based on entirely objective, quantitative criteria. This coupled with the unmatched depth of fund data, results in a unique level of prestige and ensures the award has lasting value. Renowned fund data and proprietary methodology is the foundation of this prestigious award qualification, recognizing excellence in fund management. Find out more at www.lipperfundawards.com.
About LSEG Lipper
With a track record of over 50 years of independent content, LSEG Lipper was the first to develop fund classifications that place funds in their respective peer group. LSEG Lipper data covers more than 380,000+ share classes in over 83 countries. The Lipper Leader ratings are available for mutual funds registered for sale in 47 markets. LSEG Lipper provides independent insight on global collective investments, including mutual funds, retirement funds, hedge funds and fund fees and expenses. LSEG Lipper offers premium-quality data, fund ratings, analytical tools, and global commentary through specialized product offerings. Trusted by investment professionals for 50 years, LSEG Lipper provides unparalleled expertise and insight to the funds industry.
About LSEG
LSEG is a leading global financial markets infrastructure and data provider, playing a vital social and economic role in the world’s financial system. With our open approach, trusted expertise and global scale, we enable the sustainable growth and stability of our customers and their communities. We are dedicated partners with extensive experience, deep knowledge and a worldwide presence in data and analytics; indices; capital formation; and trade execution, clearing and risk management across multiple asset classes. LSEG is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with significant operations in 65 countries across EMEA, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. We employ over 26,000 people globally, more than half located in Asia Pacific.
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Disclaimer
The LSEG Lipper Fund Awards do not constitute and are not intended to constitute investment advice or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security of any entity in any jurisdiction. LSEG Lipper Fund Awards designations are for information purposes only. LSEG Lipper is not responsible for the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information obtained to calculate the awards. Consequently, LSEG Lipper will not be liable for any loss or damage resulting from information obtained from Lipper or any of its affiliates. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Recipients should not make an investment decision based on this information.
