September 2025 was another month with strong inflows for the European 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 September 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.
September closed with a familiar, uneasy pattern: inflation is easing in many advanced economies, growth is softening, and central banks largely moved to a patient stance—even as geopolitical shocks continued to cloud the outlook. Investors spent the month trading a mix of cautious optimism about lower price pressures and anxiety about risks from great power competition and regional conflicts.
In the United States the Federal Reserve signalled a transition from tightening to careful calibration. The September FOMC noted that economic activity had moderated and inflation “remains somewhat elevated,” while the minutes and related actions suggested a more pragmatic approach to policy operations, including tweaks to lending facility rates. Markets interpreted the Fed’s language as leaving the door open for gradual easing if labor and inflation data cool further.
The European Central Bank chose stability. The Governing Council left its three key rates unchanged in September, citing inflation around the medium-term target and an overall “broadly unchanged” outlook—though internal discussion flagged that future cuts remain conditional on incoming data and upside risks. That steady stance reflected a euro-area economy that is neither overheating nor evidently collapsing.
In the UK the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee also held the Bank Rate at 4%, with a 7–2 majority. Two members pushed for a small cut, highlighting the policy committee’s internal divide between guarding against rekindled inflation and supporting an economy with sluggish growth. The BoE also voted to modestly reduce its stock of government bond purchases.
Japan’s central bank maintained its short-term rate guidance and adjusted operational measures around ETF and J-REIT transactions—a signal that policymakers are focused on smoothing market functioning while watching domestic price dynamics and the yen. The BoJ’s technical moves underscored a slow, cautious shift rather than a sharp policy pivot.
China’s external sector showed resilience but signalled moderation. September trade data beat some forecasts on ex- and imports but the trade surplus narrowed from August, reflecting softer global demand and continuing frictions in U.S.-China commercial ties that are increasingly shaping supply-chain decisions. Slower external demand, alongside the government’s continuing emphasis on “high-quality” growth, framed Beijing’s cautious macro posture.
Geopolitically, the war in Ukraine and the prolonged Middle East tensions remained major market risk drivers in September. Energy and defense supply lines continued to be watched closely, as disruptions and attacks on infrastructure kept risk premia elevated in commodity and regional credit markets. Analysts continued to flag the conflict landscape as a top systemic geopolitical risk for investors in 2025.
By the close of September markets were pricing in a conditional path to easing in central bank policies, a path that can be quickly derailed by escalating geopolitical shocks or a surprise uptick in inflation. For investors and corporates, September’s message was clear—plan for a slow growth, low-but-sticky inflation world and keep a close eye on the geopolitical thermostat.
From a European ETF industry perspective, the performance of the underlying markets led, in combination with the estimated net flows, to increasing assets under management (from €2,316.7 bn as of August 31, 2025, to €2,412.8 bn at the end of September). At a closer look, the increase in assets under management of €96.0 bn for September was driven by the performance of the underlying markets (+€59.3 bn), while estimated net inflows added €36.7 bn to the increase in assets under management.
Assets Under Management by Asset Type
As for the overall structure of the European ETF industry, it was not surprising equity ETFs (€1,843.9 bn) held the majority of assets, followed by bond ETFs (€435.6 bn), money market ETFs (€70.0 bn), commodities ETFs (€49.5 bn), alternatives ETFs (€9.3 bn), and mixed-assets ETFs (€4.5 bn).
Given the current market environment, it is no surprise that the overall assets under management in the European ETF industry (€2,412.8 bn) hit a new all-time high at the end of the month. When it comes to this, it is noteworthy that the assets under management for all asset types, with the exception of commodities, reached a new all-time high.
Graph 1: Market Share, Assets Under Management in the European ETF Segment by Asset Type, September 30, 2025
Source: LSEG Lipper
ETF Flows by Asset Type
Within the current market conditions, the European ETF industry enjoyed strong estimated net inflows (+€36.7 bn) over the course of September. That said, these inflows were far above the rolling 12-month average (€27.6 bn). These inflows drove the overall inflows in ETFs up to €242.6 bn for the year 2025 so far.
If European ETFs can maintain their current level of inflows, the overall inflows for the year 2025 will reach a new all-time high, with estimated net inflows between €310.0 bn and €330.0 bn.
The inflows in the European ETF industry for September were once again driven by equity ETFs (+€31.3 bn), followed by bond ETFs (+€3.6 bn), commodities ETFs (+€1.1 bn), money market ETFs (+€0.6 bn), and mixed-assets ETFs (+€0.1 bn). On the other side of the table, alternatives ETFs (-€0.1 bn) were the only asset type with outflows for the month.
Graph 2: Estimated Net Sales by Asset Type, September 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Given the current market environment, it was no surprise to see high inflows into ETFs led by equity products over the course of September 2025. This investor behavior repeats a trend we have seen in the past where ETFs enjoyed high inflows during times of unstable market conditions.
Assets Under Management by Lipper Global Classifications
In order to examine the European ETF markets in further detail, a review of the Lipper global classifications will lead to more insights on the structure and concentration of assets within the European ETF industry. At the end of September 2025, the European ETF market was split into 178 different peer groups. The highest assets under management at the end of September were held by funds classified as Equity U.S. (€595.3 bn), followed by Equity Global (€447.3 bn), Equity Europe (€113.8 bn), Equity Emerging Markets Global (€112.1 bn), and Equity Eurozone (€86.5 bn). These five peer groups accounted for 56.15% of the overall assets under management in the European ETF segment, while the 10-top classifications by assets under management accounted for 65.78%.
Overall, 17 of the 178 peer groups each accounted for more than 1% of assets under management. In total, these 17 peer groups accounted for €1,806.4 bn, or 74.87%, of the overall assets under management.
Graph 3: Ten Largest Lipper Global Classifications by Assets Under Management, September 30, 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
In addition, it was noteworthy that the rankings of the largest classifications saw some movement in single positions over the last few years. As the positions of the classifications had been quite stable in the past, this indicates that European investors use ETFs to trade according to their market views. Even as some of these positions might be core holdings, once investors got into risk-off mode they also reduced their exposure to core asset classes.
That said, the ranking changes at the top of the league table which happened during the COVID-19 pandemic have started to reverse. Nevertheless, these numbers showed assets under management by Lipper global classifications continued to be highly concentrated in the European ETF industry.
The peer groups on the other side of the table showed some funds in the European 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 (Please read our report: “Will the ETFs in the Smallest Lipper Classifications in the European ETF Industry Survive?” for more details on this topic).
Graph 4: Ten Smallest Lipper Global Classifications by Assets Under Management, September 30, 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
ETF Flows by Lipper Global Classifications
The net inflows of the 10 best-selling Lipper classifications accounted for €27.1 bn. In line with the overall sales trend for September, equity peer groups (+€26.3 bn) dominated the flows by asset type on the table of the 10 best-selling peer groups by estimated net inflows. That said, it was somewhat surprising to see only one bond classification (Bond USD High Yield +€0.8 bn) on the table of the 10 best-selling classifications for the month. Given the overall fund flow trend in the European ETF industry, it was not surprising that Equity U.S. (+€7.6 bn) was the best-selling Lipper global classification for September. It was followed by Equity Global (+€6.8 bn) and Equity Emerging Markets Global (+€3.2 bn).
Generally speaking, it is not surprising that Equity U.S. is back in the top spot on the table of the 10 best-selling Lipper classifications given its status as core market and the strong recovery of the market after the turmoil in April 2025, as well as the good results reported during the last earnings season. Equity Europe and Equity Eurozone were not on the table of the 10 best-selling classifications until the end of 2024. That said, the tide has changed ever since as there has been a trend toward investing in European equities established over the course of 2025 so far.
The flows into money market products in the European ETF industry have further normalized over the course of September. Since money market products are in general not a core asset type within the European ETF industry, it is normal that there are no money market classifications on the table of the 10 best-selling classifications in the European ETF industry.
Graph 5: Ten Best- and Worst-Lipper Global Classifications by Estimated Net Sales, September 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
More generally, these numbers showed the European ETF segment is also highly concentrated when it comes to fund 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.
On the other side of the table, the 10 peer groups with the highest estimated net outflows for September accounted for €3.6 bn in outflows. These outflows were clearly above the outflows for the 10 peer groups with the highest outflows for August 2025 (-€1.3 bn), but somewhat normal compared to the outflows for other months.
Bond USD Corporates (-€1.2 bn) was the classification with the highest outflows for the month. It was bettered by Equity Nordic (-€0.4 bn), Equity German Small- & Mid-Caps (-€0.4 bn), Bond GBP Corporates (-€0.3 bn), and Alternative Managed Futures (-€0.3 bn).
Assets Under Management by Promoters
A closer look at assets under management by promoters in the European ETF industry also showed high concentration, with only 33 of the 66 ETF promoters in Europe holding assets at or above €1.0 bn, accounting for €2,403.9 bn. The largest ETF promoter in Europe—iShares (€1,020.2 bn)—accounted for 42.52% of the overall assets under management and was the first ETF promoter who held more than EUR 1.0 tr in assets under management. This number is far ahead of the number-two promoter—Amundi ETF (€305.6 bn)—and the number-three promoter—Xtrackers (€257.3 bn). (To earn more about the concentration of the European ETF market at the promoter level, please read our report: Review of the concentration of the assets under management in the European ETF industry on promoter level).
Graph 6: The 10 Largest ETF Promoters by Assets Under Management, September 30, 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The 10-top promoters accounted for 93.12% of the overall assets under management in the European ETF industry. This meant, in turn, the other 56 fund promoters registering at least one ETF for sale in Europe accounted for only 6.88% of the overall assets under management.
ETF Flows by Promoters
Since the European ETF market is highly concentrated with regard to the assets under management by promoter, it was not surprising that seven of the 10 largest promoters by assets under management were among the 10-top selling ETF promoters for September. iShares was the best-selling ETF promoter in Europe for September (+€13.5 bn), ahead of Amundi ETF (+€5.2 bn) and Xtrackers (+€3.8 bn).
Graph 7: Ten Best-Selling ETF Promoters, September 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The flows of the 10-top promoters accounted for estimated net inflows of €33.2 bn. As for the overall flow trend in September, it was clear that some of the 66 promoters (eight) faced estimated net outflows (-€0.6 bn in total) over the course of the month.
Assets Under Management by ETFs
There were 4,445 instruments (primary share classes [2,208] and convenience share classes [2,237]) listed as ETFs in the Lipper database at the end of September. Regarding the overall market pattern, it was not surprising assets under management at the ETF level were also highly concentrated. Only 484 of the 2,208 ETFs (primary share classes = portfolios) held assets above €1.0 bn each. These ETFs accounted for €2,056.3 bn, or 85.23%, of the overall assets in the European ETF industry. The 10 largest ETFs in Europe accounted for €485.8 bn, or 20.14%, of the overall assets under management.
Graph 8: The 10 Largest ETFs by Assets Under Management, September 30, 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Estimated Net Flows at ETF Level
A total of 1,171 of the 2,208 ETFs (primary share classes = portfolios) analyzed in this report showed net inflows of more than €10,000 each for September, accounting for inflows of €58.6 bn. This meant the other 1,037 instruments faced no flows, or net outflows, for the month. Upon closer inspection, only 137 of the 1,171 ETFs posting net inflows enjoyed inflows of more than €100 m during September—for a total of €40.8 bn. The best-selling ETF for September was SPDR Bloomberg 1-5 Year US Corporate Bond UCITS ETF, which enjoyed estimated net inflows of €4.2 bn. It was followed by Xtrackers MSCI World Financials UCITS ETF USD (+€1.5 bn) and Amundi Core MSCI World UCITS ETF (+€1.5 bn).
Graph 9: The 10 Best-Selling ETFs, September 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The flow pattern at the fund level indicated there was a lot of turnover and rotation during September, but it also showed the concentration of the European ETF industry even better than the statistics at the promoter or classification levels since the 10 best-selling ETFs account for inflows of €13.9 bn.
Given its size and the overall trend for net sales at the promoter level, it was surprising that only three of the 10 best-selling funds for September were promoted by iShares. These iShares ETFs accounted for estimated net inflows of €2.9 bn.
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.
