The European ETF industry does not only show a high growth rate when it comes to assets under management—the number of new products is also steadily increasing at a fast pace.
At a closer look, 487 new ETF share classes have been launched by ETF promoters in Europe over the course of the first eight months of 2026; 228 of these 487 share classes were so-called primary share classes which represent the ETF portfolio. In other words, the ETF promoters in Europe have launched 228 new ETFs over the course of the first eight months of 2026.
Graph 1: Newly Launched ETFs by Asset and Product Type (January 1 – August 31, 2026)
Source: LSEG Lipper
150 of these new ETFs were equity ETFs, of which 105 are passive products, while 45 are actively managed products. Bond ETFs enjoyed the second highest number of ETF launches (47). 25 of these ETFs are passive products, while 22 are actively managed. In addition to this, there were 15 new alternatives ETFs (5 passive and 10 active), 10 mixed-assets ETFs (0 passive and 10 active), 5 money market ETFs (5 passive and 0 active), as well as 1 passive commodities ETF.
Graph 2: Newly Launched ETFs by Asset Type and Management Approach (January 1 – August 31, 2026)
Source: LSEG Lipper
These numbers seem to be in line with the general structure of the European ETF industry. Nevertheless, it is surprising to see such a comparably low number of newly launched actively managed equity ETFs. One might also expect a higher market share of actively managed bond ETFs, since European investors seem in general to prefer actively managed bond funds over their passive peers.
Given the high number of newly launched ETFs, the question is whether these ETFs meet the expectations of the investors or in other words, did these ETFs enjoy inflows over the course of the year 2026 so far or not?
With regard to this, it can be said that the ETFs which have been launched by the end of August 2026 saw some demand from investors, as these products gathered estimated inflows of €19.9 bn. These estimated net inflows led in combination with performance of the underlying markets to overall assets under management of €21.5 bn. Which means the average new launched ETF gathered around €94.0 m over the course of 2026 so far. Obviously, this number is somewhat misleading, since those ETFs which have been launched earlier in the year had more time to gather assets than those ETFs which had been launched in recent months. Nevertheless, these statistics do look like that at least some of the European ETF promoters launched some quite successful ETFs.
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.
