ETFs are very popular investment vehicles on both sides of the Atlantic. Even as one may think that the general pattern when it comes to average assets under management at the ETF promoter level, etc., should be somewhat similar, there are some key differences.
Given its size and age, it seems to be a fair assumption to say that the U.S. ETF industry is in literally all measures much bigger than the ETF industry in Europe. But is this really the case? Let’s investigate the details. The U.S. ETF industry held $13,651.1 bn in assets under management (AUM) at the end of March 2026, while the European ETF industry held AUM of $3,063.0 bn. This means the U.S. ETF industry has roughly 4.5 times the size of the European ETF industry when it comes to the assets under management.
Graph 1: Assets Under Management in the U.S. and European ETF Industry, March 31, 2026 (in bn USD)
Source LSEG Lipper
But how does the split of assets under management look at the promoter level? There were 476 ETF promoters active in the U.S. at the end of March 2026, while there were 74 promoters active in Europe at the same point in time. This means that the average ETF promoter in the U.S. held $28.7 bn in AUM, while their average European peers held $41.4 bn. This result is in line with expectations since a higher number of ETF promoters should bring the average AUM down, as not all ETF promoters can hold above average ETFs.
Graph 2: Number of ETF Promoters and Average Assets Under Management (in bn USD), March 31, 2026
Source: LSEG Lipper
Market Share of the Overall Assets Under Management of the 10 Largest ETF Promoter in Europe and the U.S.
In fact, the ETF industry in the U.S.—as well as in Europe—is highly concentrated when it comes to assets under management at the promoter level. That said, the largest 10 promoters by AUM in the U.S. ETF industry held $12,120.2 bn in assets under management, while their European peers held $2,819.9 bn in AUM. In other words, the top 10 promoters in the U.S. held 88.79% of the overall AUM, while the 10 largest promoters in Europe held 92.06% of the AUM. This means that the ETF industry in the U.S. has a lower concentration of AUM by promoter than in Europe. That said, the ETF industries on both sides of the Atlantic are highly concentrated, since the 10 largest promoters account for the vast majority of assets under management.
Graph 3: Market Share of the Top 10 ETF Promoter in Europe and the U.S. by Assets Under Management, March 31, 2026
Source: LSEG Lipper
The high concentration of assets under management is also shown in the number of ETF promoters which held more than $1.0 bn in assets under management at the end of March. This might also be seen as a success rate, since $1 bn in AUM marks a milestone for every ETF promoter. That said, in Europe 36 of the 74 ETF promoters held assets under management of more than $1.0 bn, while 124 of the 476 ETF promoters in the U.S. reached this milestone. In other words, 48.65% of the ETF promoters in Europe and 26.05% of the ETF promoters in the U.S. held more than $1.0 bn in assets under management.
These numbers may not seem to be high, but a view of the overall assets under management behind these numbers shows that the concentration of AUM at the promoter level in the European and the U.S. ETF industries is very high. In fact, the 36 largest ETF promoters in Europe held $3,054.7 bn in AUM—which equals 99.73% of the overall assets under management held in ETFs in Europe—while their U.S. peers held $13,580.8 bn in AUM, which equals 99.48% of the overall AUM held in ETFs in the U.S. This means that the other 38 ETF promoters in Europe and the other 352 ETF promoters in the U.S. only held 0.27% and 0.52%, respectively, of the assets under management at the end of March 2026.
Number of ETFs and Average Assets Under Management
Another angle for such an analysis is a bottom-up view. Hence the question of “how many ETFs do the promoters manage on average and how large are these ETFs with regard to the average AUM?” There were 5,043 ETFs registered for sales in the U.S. at the end of March 2026, and 2,377 ETFs in Europe.
Graph 4: Average Number of ETFs per Promoter and Average Assets Under Management per ETF (in bn USD), March 31, 2026
Source: LSEG Lipper
This means that the average ETF promoter in the U.S. managed 10.6 ETFs, while the average ETF promoter in Europe managed 32.1 products. As one can see from the overall number of ETFs and the overall assets under management, the ETF promoters in the U.S. held more assets under management in a lower number of ETFs. As a result, the average AUM of ETFs in the U.S. ($2.7 bn) is much higher than for those in Europe ($1.3 bn).
That said, it is common sense, but still worthwhile to mention, that the average number of ETFs per promoter is far off the reality, since the largest ETF promoters by number of products on both sides of the Atlantic manage more than 200 ETFs, while the smallest promoters manage a single ETF.
The views expressed are the views of the author, not necessarily those of LSEG.
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice.
