December 2025 was another month with strong inflows for the European ETF industry.
These inflows occurred in a month in which markets were navigating elevated geopolitical noise. Ukraine intensified strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, including the first UAV attacks in the Caspian, while tensions in the Middle East and disruptions from Red Sea shipping risks persisted. These flare ups periodically lifted risk premiums but did not meaningfully shift the broader macro narrative.
Oil markets reflected this push‑and‑pull dynamic. Despite brief price spikes driven by sanctions and regional skirmishes, the overarching trend for 2025 was downward amid robust supply growth and rising inventories. Brent crude averaged in the low $60s during December and closed the year near $61, its weakest annual finish since 2020. OPEC+ maintained a cautious posture heading into 2026 after repeatedly delaying the unwinding of voluntary production cuts.
Equities ended the year quietly following a strong rally from April onward, with international markets outperforming U.S. indices. Bond markets delivered mixed results as the yield curve shifted—short‑dated yields eased while longer maturities firmed.
Gold, however, dominated market attention. Spot prices reached new highs around $4,534/oz on December 26 before settling in the low $4,300s by year‑end. The metal rose more than 60% over 2025 as investors sought protection from policy uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and currency volatility. Silver’s sharp advance further supported precious‑metals demand.
Monetary policy developments also shaped year‑end sentiment. The Federal Reserve delivered a third consecutive 25-bp-rate cut on December 10, lowering the target range to 3.50%–3.75%. The split vote underscored internal debate as policymakers weighed still‑elevated inflation against a cooling labor market. In the U.K., the Bank of England cut rates to 3.75% in a narrow vote, citing easing inflation and emerging economic slack. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank held its policy rates steady for a fourth meeting, signaling comfort with inflation trending toward target.
Overall, December’s cross‑asset performance, mixed equities, mixed bonds, and surging gold reflected investors’ recalibration to slowing inflation, selective monetary easing, and persistent geopolitical friction. Early 2026 outcomes will hinge on whether disinflation continues without undermining growth and whether geopolitical shocks remain contained rather than systemic.
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 €2,545.2 bn as of November 30, 2025, to €2,577.7 bn at the end of December). At a closer look, the increase in assets under management of €32.5 bn for December was driven by estimated net inflows (+€29.5 bn), while the performance of the underlying markets added (+€3.0 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 (€1,968.7 bn) held the majority of assets, followed by bond ETFs (€495.3 bn), commodities ETFs (€57.7 bn), money market ETFs (€41.9 bn), alternatives ETFs (€9.41 bn), and mixed-assets ETFs (€4.7 bn).
Given the current market environment, it is no surprise that the overall assets under management in the European ETF industry (€2,577.7 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 alternatives, reached a new all-time high.
Graph 1: Market Share, Assets Under Management in the European ETF Segment by Asset Type, December 31, 2025
Source: LSEG Lipper
ETF Flows by Asset Type
Within the current market conditions, the European ETF industry enjoyed strong estimated net inflows (+€29.5 bn) over the course of December. That said, these inflows were below the rolling 12-month average (€30.5 bn). These inflows drove the overall inflows in ETFs up to €333.2 bn for the year 2025.
This means the inflows into ETFs in Europe have reached a new all-time high and already the record inflows of the year 2024 (€256.4 bn) by a wide margin.
The inflows in the European ETF industry for December were once again driven by equity ETFs (+€21.8 bn), followed by bond ETFs (+€4.7 bn), money market ETFs (+€2.0 bn), commodities ETFs (+€0.9 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, December 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 December 2025.
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 December 2025, the European ETF market was split into 182 different peer groups. The highest assets under management at the end of December were held by funds classified as Equity U.S. (€618.5 bn), followed by Equity Global (€479.7 bn), Equity Europe (€216.8 bn), Equity Emerging Markets Global (€126.0 bn), and Equity Sector Information Technology (€58.3 bn). These five peer groups accounted for 58.16% of the overall assets under management in the European ETF segment, while the 10-top classifications by assets under management accounted for 67.10%.
Overall, 16 of the 182 peer groups each accounted for more than 1% of assets under management. In total, these 16 peer groups accounted for €1,929.9 bn, or 74.87%, of the overall assets under management.
Graph 3: Ten Largest Lipper Global Classifications by Assets Under Management, December 31, 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.
Despite the fact that the rankings at the top of the league show some changes from time to time, these numbers show that the 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, December 31, 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
ETF Flows by Lipper Global Classifications
The net inflows of the 10 best-selling Lipper classifications accounted for €23.5 bn. In line with the overall sales trend for December, equity peer groups (+€19.6 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 not surprising to see only one bond classifications on the table of the 10 best-selling classifications for the month, given the general market sentiment. Given the overall fund flow trend in the European ETF industry, it was not surprising that Equity Global (+€7.8 bn) was the best-selling Lipper global classification for December. It was followed by Equity Europe (+€3.6 bn) and Equity Emerging Markets Global (+€3.5 bn).
Generally speaking, it is not surprising that Equity U.S. is not in the top spot on the table of the 10 best-selling Lipper classifications given its sluggish performance compared to European equities, despite the good results reported during the last earnings season. Equity Europe was 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 December. Since money market products are in general not a core asset type within the European ETF industry, it is still somewhat surprising to see a money market classifications (Money Market EUR +€1.5 bn) 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, December 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 December accounted for €3.2 bn in outflows. These outflows were somewhat below the outflows for the 10 peer groups with the highest outflows for November 2025 (-€3.5 bn), but still in line compared to the outflows for other months.
Bond EUR Corporates (-€1.0 bn) was the classification with the highest outflows for the month. It was bettered by Equity Global es U.S. (-€0.9 bn), Equity US Small & Mid Cap (-€0.3 bn), Equity Germany (-€0.2 bn), and Bond EMU Government Long Term (-€0.2 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 34 of the 73 ETF promoters in Europe holding assets at or above €1.0 bn, accounting for €2,571.2 bn. The largest ETF promoter in Europe—iShares (€1,077.7 bn)—accounted for 41.81% 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 (€332.2 bn)—and the number-three promoter—Xtrackers (€272.5 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, December 31, 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The 10-top promoters accounted for 92.75% of the overall assets under management in the European ETF industry. This meant, in turn, the other 63 fund promoters registering at least one ETF for sale in Europe accounted for only 7.25% of the overall assets under management.
ETF Flows by Promoters
Since the European ETF market is highly concentrated when it comes to assets under management by promoter, it was not surprising that eight of the 10 largest promoters by assets under management were among the 10-top selling ETF promoters for December. iShares was the best-selling ETF promoter in Europe for December (+€8.9 bn), ahead of Amundi ETF (+€6.4 bn) and UBS ETF (+€2.5 bn).
Graph 7: Ten Best-Selling ETF Promoters, December 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The flows of the 10-top promoters accounted for estimated net inflows of €27.7 bn. As for the overall flow trend in December, it was clear that some of the 73 promoters (11) faced estimated net outflows (-€0.9 bn in total) over the course of the month.
Assets Under Management by ETFs
There were 4,619 instruments (primary share classes [2,301] and convenience share classes [2,318]) listed as ETFs in the Lipper database at the end of December. Regarding the overall market pattern, it was not surprising assets under management at the ETF level were also highly concentrated. Only 506 of the 2,301 ETFs (primary share classes = portfolios) held assets above €1.0 bn each. These ETFs accounted for €2,205.9 bn, or 85.58%, of the overall assets in the European ETF industry. The 10 largest ETFs in Europe accounted for €505.8 bn, or 19.62%, of the overall assets under management.
Graph 8: The 10 Largest ETFs by Assets Under Management, December 31, 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Estimated Net Flows at ETF Level
A total of 1,150 of the 2,301 ETFs (primary share classes = portfolios) analyzed in this report showed net inflows of more than €10,000 each for December, accounting for inflows of €53.2 bn. This meant the other 1,151 instruments faced no flows, or net outflows, for the month. Upon closer inspection, only 141 of the 1,150 ETFs posting net inflows enjoyed inflows of more than €100 m during December—for a total of €36.0 bn. The best-selling ETF for December was Amundi MSCI Europe Action UCITS ETF, which enjoyed estimated net inflows of €1.6 bn. It was followed by iShares MSCI USA Swap UCITS ETF USD (+€1.3 bn) and UBS Core MSCI World UCITS ETF (+€1.1 bn).
Graph 9: The 10 Best-Selling ETFs, December 2025 (Euro Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The flow pattern at the fund level indicated there was a lot of turnover and rotation during December, 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 €9.1 bn.
Given its size and the overall trend for net sales at the promoter level, it was somewhat surprising that only three of the 10 best-selling funds for December were promoted by iShares. These iShares ETFs accounted for estimated net inflows of €2.8 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.
