August 2025 was another month with healthy inflows for the global ETF industry.
These inflows occurred in a volatile but overall positive market environment in which investors around the globe acted nervous over any political and economic news. In more detail, global markets entered August with a wary eye on inflation, monetary policy, and geopolitics. By month’s end, equities had mostly advanced, bonds saw a sharp repricing of yields, and investors were left weighing whether the world economy was entering a new phase of resilience or fragility.
For most investors the speech of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the annual Jackson Hole conference on August 22 was one of the most important events of the month. A lot of investors were surprised when Powell struck a more dovish tone than many had anticipated, acknowledging that monetary policy may now be restrictive and hinting at possible adjustments. That single intervention helped drive down shorter-dated Treasury yields and revived expectations for a September rate cut.
The strong results presented during the earnings season drove the trends on the equities markets. Around three-quarters of S&P 500 companies beat second-quarter earnings forecasts, demonstrating that profit growth remains intact even as the macro environment cools. That said, technology remained volatile since investors had to manage a delicate balance between optimism and caution.
European equities and bonds were buffeted by mixed macroeconomic data. The eurozone composite PMI remained just above the critical 50 level, indicating modest growth. That resilience, alongside easing inflation, gave the European Central Bank some room to maneuver. Yet investors were wary: fiscal strains in several member states and concerns over the long-term debt trajectory kept upward pressure on long-dated yields. In addition to this, the unclear political situation in France has added some volatility to the European bond markets.
The performance of European equities was steadier than many expected, particularly in financials and industrials. That said, the performance of the industry sector industrials was clearly driven by the performance of producers of weapons and other military equipment. A softer U.S. dollar also offered relief for euro-denominated assets. But the region remains sensitive to global trade shifts, especially as Washington pursued reciprocal tariffs with trading partners, adding a layer of uncertainty for export-heavy economies such as Germany.
Asia delivered both surprises and headwinds. Japan’s second-quarter GDP beat forecasts, and core machinery orders rose, hinting at underlying strength. Equity markets in Tokyo gained as a result, aided by a weaker yen.
China, however, remained a source of volatility. Ongoing trade negotiations with the United States saw a temporary truce, supporting risk sentiment. Yet concerns about domestic demand and property-sector fragility lingered. Broader emerging Asia benefited from a weaker dollar, which lifted both equities and local currency bonds. Investors also noted that capital inflows into Asian debt markets increased as the Fed’s dovish tilt reduced pressure on local currencies. That said, it looks like the decline of the U.S. dollar was the pivotal driver for the good performance of securities markets in the emerging markets. Local-currency bonds rallied, and credit spreads tightened as investors sought higher yields in a supportive currency environment. Still, risks remained: new U.S. tariffs on India over Russian oil imports underscored how geopolitics can quickly cut across improving fundamentals.
By the close of August, markets had absorbed a potent mix of dovish central bank rhetoric, solid earnings, and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. Equities advanced globally, while bonds staged a rally at the short end but continued to wrestle with fiscal concerns further out the curve. Investors head into autumn with optimism about growth resilience, but also with an awareness that stretched valuations, rising debt burdens, and political flashpoints could quickly reverse sentiment.
From an ETF industry perspective, the performance of the underlying markets led, in combination with the estimated net flows, to increasing assets under management (from €16,308.0 bn as of July 31, 2025, to €16,873.1 bn at the end of August). At a closer look, the increase in assets under management of €547.8 bn for August was driven by the performance of the underlying markets (+€388.1 bn), while estimated net inflows added (+€159.7 bn) to the increase in assets under management.
Assets Under Management by Asset Type
As for the overall structure of the global ETF industry, it was not surprising equity ETFs ($13,205.7 bn) held the majority of assets, followed by bond ETFs ($2,862.1 bn), commodities ETFs ($318.0 bn), alternatives ETFs ($268.9 bn), money market ETFs ($129.2 bn), mixed-assets ETFs ($69.2 bn), and “other” ETFs ($20.0 bn).
Within the current market environment, it is not surprising that the assets under management for all asset types with the exception of alternatives and “other” marked an all-time high at the end of the month. This is because the main markets recovered on a fast pace from their drawdowns in April.
Graph 1: Market Share, Assets Under Management in the Global ETF Industry by Asset Type, August 30, 2025
Source: LSEG Lipper
ETF Flows by Asset Type
The global ETF industry enjoyed healthy estimated net inflows (+$159.7 bn) over the course of August despite the still somewhat fragile environment in the equity markets. These inflows drove the overall inflows in ETFs up to $1,143.9 bn for the year 2025 so far.
Inflows to the global ETF industry for August were driven by equity ETFs (+$85.3 bn), followed by bond ETFs (+$58.2 bn), commodities ETFs (+$6.1 bn), alternatives ETFs (+$4.8 bn), money market ETFs (+$3.2 bn), mixed-assets ETFs (+$1.8 bn), and “other” ETFs (+$0.2 bn).
Graph 2: Estimated Net Sales by Asset Type, August 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Assets Under Management by Lipper Global Classifications
In order to examine the global ETF industry in further detail, a review of the Lipper global classifications will lead to more insights on the structure and concentration of assets within the global ETF industry. At the end of August 2025, the global ETF market was split into 289 different peer groups. The highest assets under management at the end of August were held by funds classified as Equity U.S. ($6,029.2 bn), followed by Equity Global ex U.S. ($987.3 bn), Equity U.S. Small & Mid Cap ($953.4 bn), Equity Global ($714.2 bn), and Equity Japan ($697.7 bn). These five peer groups accounted for $9,381.8 bn, or 55.60%, of the overall assets under management in the global ETF industry, while the 10-top classifications by assets under management accounted for $11,622.4 bn, or 68.79%, of the overall assets under management.
Overall, 17 of the 289 peer groups each accounted for more than 1% of assets under management. In total, these 17 peer groups accounted for $13,022.9 bn, or 77.18%, of the overall assets under management.
Graph 3: Ten Largest Lipper Global Classifications by Assets Under Management, August 30, 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The peer groups on the other side of the table showed some funds in the global ETF market are quite low in assets, and their constituents may face the risk of being closed in the near future. They are obviously lacking investor interest and might, therefore, not be profitable for their respective fund promoters.
Graph 4: Ten Smallest Lipper Global Classifications by Assets Under Management, August 30, 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
ETF Flows by Lipper Global Classifications
The net inflows of the 10 best-selling Lipper classifications accounted for $112.6 bn. In line with the overall sales trend for August, equity peer groups (+$69.8 bn) gathered the majority of flows by asset type on the table of the 10 best-selling classifications by estimated net inflows for August 2025. That said, compared with the concentration of flows for the single regions, the 10 best-selling Lipper classifications showed a somewhat similar diversification at the global level, since there are only money market classifications missing on the table. That said, this is not surprising since money market is not a core asset class for the global ETF industry. Given the overall fund flow trend in the global ETF industry and the dominance of the U.S. as leading market for ETFs, it was not surprising that Equity U.S. (+$43.4 bn) was the best-selling Lipper global classification for August. It was followed by Equity Global ex U.S. (+$12.8 bn) and Bond USD Medium Term (+$12.4 bn).
More generally, as said before these numbers showed the global ETF segment shows a high concentration when it comes to the estimated net flows by classification. Generally speaking, one would expect the flows into ETFs to be concentrated since investors often use ETFs to implement their market views and short-term asset allocation decisions. These products are made and, therefore, are easy to use for these purposes. In addition, one needs to bear in mind that the numbers for the global ETF industry are massively impacted by the fund flow trends in the U.S.
Graph 5: Ten Best- and Worst-Lipper Global Classifications by Estimated Net Sales, August 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
On the other side of the table, the 10 peer groups with the highest estimated net outflows for May accounted for $11.6 bn in outflows. These outflows were significant below the outflows for the previous month (-$21.8 bn).
Alternative Equity Leveraged (-$4.8 bn) was once again the classification with the highest outflows for the month. It was bettered by Equity Japan (-$3.0 bn), Equity Theme – Natural Resources (-$1.1 bn), Equity Sector Healthcare (-$0.6 bn), and Equity Hong Kong (-$0.5 bn). The classifications with the highest outflows may indicate that some investors are reducing the risk in their portfolios.
Assets Under Management by Promoters
A closer look at assets under management by promoters in the global ETF industry also showed high concentration, with only 199 of the 715 ETF promoters in the global ETF industry holding assets at or above $1.0 bn, accounting for overall assets under management of $16,781.9 bn. The largest ETF promoter in the global ETF industry—iShares ($5,037.0 bn)—accounted for 29.86% of the overall assets under management, ahead of the number-two promoter—Vanguard ($3,869.2 bn)—and the number-three promoter—SPDR ($1,812.1 bn).
Graph 6: The 10 Largest ETF Promoters by Assets Under Management, August 30, 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The 10-top promoters accounted for 80.06% of the overall assets under management in the global ETF industry. This meant, in turn, the other 705 fund promoters registering at least one ETF for sale accounted for only 19.94% of the overall assets under management. These numbers show that the assets under management at the promoter level in the global ETF industry are somewhat more diversified than in the single regions. This is not surprising, as some promoters are only active in single regions/markets and therefore take away some market share from the global promoters.
ETF Flows by Promoters
Since the global ETF industry is highly concentrated with regard to the assets under management by promoter, it was not surprising that six of the 10 largest promoters by assets under management were among the 10-top selling ETF promoters for August. iShares was the best-selling ETF promoter in the global ETF industry for the month (+$45.2 bn), ahead of Vanguard (+$42.5 bn) and Invesco (+$8.6 bn).
Graph 7: Ten Best-Selling ETF Promoters, August 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The flows of the 10 top promoters accounted for estimated net inflows of $123.8 bn. As for the overall flow trend in August, it was clear that some of the 715 promoters (178) faced estimated net outflows (-$14.9 bn in total) over the course of the month.
Assets Under Management by Region
ETFs domiciled in North America ($12,714.2 bn) held the highest assets under management in the global ETF industry at the end of August 2025. They were followed by ETFs domiciled in Europe ($2,710.3 bn), ETFs domiciled in the Asia Pacific region ($1,413.6 bn), ETFs domiciled in South and Central America ($20.7 bn), ETFs domiciled in Africa ($13.0 bn), while other domiciles held ($1.3 bn) in assets under management.
Graph 8: Assets Under Management in the Global ETF Industry by Region – August 30, 2025 (in bn USD)
Source: LSEG Lipper
These numbers show that the global ETF industry is a truly global industry with a high concentration of assets under management in a few domiciles.
Estimated Net Flows by Region
In reviewing the estimated flows in the global ETF industry by fund domicile and the respective regions, one needs to bear in mind that some domiciles have specific advantages or disadvantages when it comes to ETF distribution. The U.S. is, for example, a single market and can take profit from the size of the overall market, while in Europe every market is or at least can be an ETF domicile, which means that the local markets are much smaller.
That said, the EU countries have established a fund regulation (Undertakings in Collective Investments and Transferable Securities, or UCITS) which enables the fund and ETF industry to cross-list all products which are registered for sale in one EU country into another EU country. Since UCITS has become such a well-recognized regulatory standard for mutual funds and ETFs, some countries in South and Central America, as well as in Asia, allow UCITS funds to be cross-listed and sold to local investors. It is fair to say that there is no other regulatory framework available that allows funds to be distributed in various countries around the globe. Other mutual recognition agreements, such as those between Hong Kong and China or Hong Kong and Taiwan, are only bilateral and have no global reach. This means that the estimated flows for European ETFs in January also include flows from South and Central America, as well as from Asia.
Graph 9: Estimated Net Flows in the Global ETF Industry by Region, August 2025 (in bn USD)
Source: LSEG Lipper
As one may expect from the assets under management, ETFs domiciled in North America (+$125.2 bn) enjoyed the highest estimated net inflows for August 2025. They were followed by ETFs domiciled in Europe (+$29.2 bn), Asia Pacific (+$5.2 bn), and South and Central America (+$0.1 bn). Conversely, ETFs domiciled in other regions (-$0.01 bn) and Africa (-$0.1 bn), faced estimated net outflows.
Assets Under Management by Domicile
To investigate the concentration by region further, it makes sense to analyze the assets under management by domicile. As of the end of August 2025, the U.S. was the largest single country ETF domicile ($12,211.2 bn) of the 42 ETF domiciles covered in this report, followed by Ireland ($1,973.0 bn), Japan ($662.7 bn), Canada ($503.0 bn), and Luxembourg ($494.0 bn). These five ETF domiciles account for assets under management of $15,843.8 bn, or 93.90%, of the overall assets under management in the global ETF industry.
Graph 10: Ten Largest ETF Domiciles by Assets Under Management – August 30, 2025 (in bn USD)
Source: LSEG Lipper
These numbers show that the assets under management in the global ETF industry are dominated by a small number of domiciles. Obviously, this concentration is caused by the time period over which ETFs are available in the single domiciles, as well the overall market size of these domiciles. That said, Ireland and Luxembourg are true global ETF hubs since ETFs registered under the UCITS regulation can be sold in various markets around the world.
Estimated Net Flows by Domicile
In more detail, the U.S. (+$118.2 bn) was the single fund domicile with the highest estimated net inflows for August. It was followed by Ireland (+$23.3 bn), Canada (+$7.0 bn), Luxembourg (+$4.4 bn), and Australia (+$3.1 bn).
Graph 11: The 10 ETF Domiciles with the Highest Estimated Net Inflows, August 2025 (in bn USD)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The list of the 10 best-selling domiciles does an even better job of showcasing that ETFs are truly a global phenomenon since it shows that investors around the globe are using ETFs to implement their asset allocation views into their portfolios.
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.
