2025 was a year with strong inflows for the Indo-Pacific ETF industry.
These inflows occurred in a year in which Indo-Pacific bond and equity markets were shaped by a combination of geopolitical instability, persistent fiscal pressures, and diverging monetary policy paths across major central banks. For Indo-Pacific investors, the market narrative was one of cautious optimism punctuated by episodes of volatility as macro‑economic fault lines became more visible.
Geopolitical forces continued to exert a dominant influence on market sentiment. Nevertheless, it looked like financial markets largely shrugged off the initial shock from new U.S. tariff announcements in April even though underlying geopolitical and trade vulnerabilities remained elevated. Meanwhile, the intensifying U.S.–China tensions, sanctions, and structural divergences weighed on both U.S. and Chinese growth while the U.S. maintained relative strength.
For international equity investors, this backdrop translated into a preference for domestically oriented sectors and high‑quality balance sheets, as export‑heavy industries faced lingering uncertainty. As a result, ETFs investing in European equities witnessed strong estimated net flows. Supported by easing inflation and rising indices, the market sentiment across the major markets became more positive over the course of the year despite the somewhat weak economic momentum in key economies such as Germany and Italy and some geopolitical concerns.
More generally, equity markets witnessed a sector rotation as investors’ interest shifted from growth to value stocks. As a result, stocks from classic value sectors such as financials, energy, and industrials started to outperform high growth tech names. In addition to this, small and mid caps started to outperform large and mega caps over the course of the year.
Fiscal sustainability became a major theme influencing bond market performance. Widening government deficits were placing pressure on sovereign bond markets and raising the likelihood of yield increases as policymakers face growing challenges to maintain financial stability as market fragmentation and debt burdens were rising.
Indo-Pacific bond investors responded by demanding higher risk premia from fiscally vulnerable euro‑area members. Spreads widened at various points of the year, reflecting concerns around slow growth and budget slippage. In the U.S., repeated debates over government spending and shutdown risks contributed to periodic volatility in Treasuries, reinforcing Indo-Pacific risk‑off sentiment during early year episodes.
The Federal Reserve reversed its policy to hold rates steady during its last three meetings for the year and cut the Fed funds rate by 25 basis points (bps) in each of those meetings, stating that the elevated economic uncertainty has led to concerns about rising unemployment due to the introduction of new tariffs and industrial policies by the U.S. government. The European Central Bank (ECB) also cut its deposit facility rate three times by 25 bps over the course of the year as the euro‑area inflation moved closer to target while economic growth stagnated in the euro area. Conversely, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) made a shift toward tighter monetary policies by raising interest rates to 0.75%, with two interest rate increases of 25 bps over the course of 2025. The 0.75% interest rate marks the highest interest rate over the course of the last 30 years in Japan.
Within this environment, gold has reasserted its role as investors’ preferred safe haven and as barometer of geopolitical risk, as the price of gold made an exceptional rally, gaining 65.2% over the course of the year as it reached $4,337.0 per ounce at the end of the year 2025. The rally of the silver price was even more impressive, as the price for an ounce of the second currency metal gained 150.1% over the course of the year. While the price for both precious metals was driven by economic and geopolitical uncertainties, the silver price was boosted by increasing industrial demand and a lack of supply.
Overall, it can be said that 2025 was a year of two halves, as the market sentiment on equity and bond markets was quite positive over the first half of the year, while the market sentiment was driven by uncertainty caused by renewed geopolitical, fiscal, and economic concerns.
Assets Under Management by Asset Type
From an Indo-Pacific ETF industry perspective, the performance of the underlying markets led, in combination with the estimated net flows, to increasing assets under management (from $1,690.5 bn as of December 31, 2024, to $2,428.3 bn at the end of December 2025). At a closer look, the increase in assets under management of $737.8 bn for 2025 was driven by the performance of the underlying markets (+$606.5 bn), while estimated net inflows added (+$131.3 bn) to the increase in assets under management.
That said, the growth of the assets under management (AUM) in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry is the best proof of success for the ETF industry since their inception.
Graph 1: Assets Under Management in the Indo-Pacific ETF Industry, January 1, 1999 – December 30, 2025 (USD billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
As for the overall structure of the Indo-Pacific ETF industry, it was not surprising equity ETFs ($1,943.8 bn) held the majority of assets, followed by bond ETFs ($290.8 bn), commodities ETFs ($77.1 bn), money market ETFs ($51.3 bn), alternatives ETFs ($34.3 bn), “other” ETFs ($20.8 bn), and mixed-assets ETFs ($10.2 bn).
Despite the current market environment, it is not surprising that the assets under management for all asset types with the exception of “other” marked an all-time high at the end of December 2025.
Graph 2: Market Share, Assets Under Management in the Indo-Pacific ETF Industry by Asset Type, December 31, 2025
Source: LSEG Lipper
ETF Flows by Asset Type
The Indo-Pacific ETF industry enjoyed strong inflows (+$131.3 bn) over the course of 2025. Even as the estimated net flows for 2025 were far above the average flows, they did not hit a new all-time high for annual estimated net flows. The quarterly flow pattern over the course of the year shows that the inflows into ETFs slowed down after the announcement of the U.S. tariffs in April, but returned even stronger, as the tariffs had not become a major threat for economic growth during the following months.
Graph 3: Estimated Quarterly Net Sales, January 1, 2025 – December 31, 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
These impressive estimated net flows might be seen as proof that the acceptance and adoption of ETFs by Indo-Pacific investors has further increased over the course of the year 2025.
The inflows in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry for 2025 were driven by equity ETFs (+$83.5 bn), followed by commodities ETFs (+$15.3 bn), bond ETFs (+$14.9 bn), money market ETFs (+$9.8 bn), mixed-assets ETFs (+$4.2 bn), and alternatives ETFs (+$3.9 bn). On the other side of the table, “other” ETFs were the only asset type posting outflows (-$0.3 bn) for the year 2025.
Graph 4: Estimated Net Sales by Asset Type, January 1 – December 31, 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Given the market environment, it was no surprise to see high estimated net inflows into ETFs led by equity ETFs over the course of the year 2025. Opposite to other regions, commodities witnessed higher inflows than bonds. This development was driven by the high affinity of investors in the Indo-Pacific region for gold. (Please see the chapter ETF Flows by Lipper Global Classifications for more information on this.)
Assets Under Management by Lipper Global Classifications
In order to examine the Indo-Pacific ETF industry in further detail, a review of the Lipper Indo-Pacific classifications will lead to more insights on the structure and concentration of assets within the Indo-Pacific ETF industry. At the end of 2025, the Indo-Pacific ETF market was split into 162 different peer groups. The highest assets under management at the end of the year were held by ETFs classified as Equity Japan ($651.2 bn), followed by Equity China ($344.5 bn), Equity Sector Information Technology ($155.2 bn), Equity Taiwan ($120.5 bn), and Bond CNY ($98.6 bn). These five peer groups accounted for 56.42% of the overall assets under management in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry, while the 10-top classifications by assets under management accounted for 71.92%.
Overall, 19 of the 162 peer groups each accounted for more than 1% of assets under management. In total, these 19 peer groups accounted for $2,076.3 bn, or 85.50%, of the overall assets under management.
Graph 5: Ten Largest Lipper Global Classifications by Assets Under Management, December 31, 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The peer groups on the other side of the table showed some funds in the Indo-Pacific 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 6: Ten Smallest Lipper Indo-Pacific Classifications by Assets Under Management, December 31, 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
ETF Flows by Lipper Global Classifications
The net inflows of the 10 best-selling Lipper global classifications accounted for $103.0 bn. In line with the overall sales trend for 2025, equity peer groups (+$75.5 bn) gathered the majority of flows by asset type on the table of the 10 best-selling classifications by estimated net inflows for the year. That said, it is surprising that there are no bond classifications on the table of the 10 best-selling Lipper classifications. More generally, it can be said that the table of the 10 best-selling classifications in the Indo-Pacific region features different classifications than those for the other regions. This shows that investor preferences around the world differ, even as most of the trends in capital markets are usually a global phenomenon.
Given the more local focus of investors in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry it was not surprising that Equity Taiwan (+$22.1 bn) was the best-selling Lipper global classification for the year 2025. It was followed by Equity U.S. (+$19.0 bn), Commodity Precious Metals (+$15.1 bn), Equity Australia (+$7.9 bn), and Equity Global (+$7.8 bn).
Since money market is in general not considered a core asset type within the global ETF industry, it is somewhat surprising to see Money Market KRW (+$6.7 bn) on the table for the best-selling classifications for the Indo-Pacific ETF industry.
More generally, these numbers showed the Indo-Pacific ETF segment is somewhat highly concentrated when it comes to the estimated net flows by classification. Generally speaking, one would expect the flows into ETFs to be concentrated, even as investors around the globe may have different preferences, the main trends are normally Indo-Pacific investment trends and investors 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.
Graph 7: Ten Best- and Worst-Lipper Indo-Pacific Classifications by Estimated Net Sales, January 1- December 31, 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
On the other side of the table, the 10 peer groups with the highest estimated net outflows for the year accounted for $19.9 bn in outflows.
Alternative Equity Leveraged (-$6.7 bn) was the classification with the highest outflows for the year. It was bettered by Equity Hong Kong (-$4.3 bn), Equity Japan (-$3.1 bn), Bond USD Government (-$2.8 bn), and Equity Theme EV and Future Mobility (-$3.1 bn).
As the bottom of the table is dominated by smaller local or niche sector classifications, it looks like Indo-Pacific ETF investors have readjusted their portfolios by reducing local, sector, or directional risk over the course of 2025.
Assets Under Management by Promoters
A closer look at assets under management by promoters in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry also shows that the overall market concentration is much lower than in the other regions around the globe. 91 of the 268 ETF promoters covered in this report hold assets at or above $1.0 bn, totalling $2,401.2 bn at the end of 2025. Meanwhile, only 26 ETF promoters held more than 1% of the assets under management, totalling $1,927.5 bn, or 79.38%, of the overall assets under management. Nevertheless, the largest ETF promoter in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry—Nomura Asset Management ($307.8 bn)—accounted for 12.68% of the overall assets under management, far ahead of the number-two promoter—China AMC ($143.0 bn)—and the number-three promoter—Amova Asset Management ($142.1 bn).
Graph 8: The 10 Largest ETF Promoters by Assets Under Management, December 31, 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The 10-top promoters accounted for 52.42% of the overall assets under management in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry. This is a much lower concentration of the assets under management at the promoter level than in other regions around the globe. Nevertheless, this meant in turn that the other 258 ETF promoters which had registered at least one ETF for sale over the observation period accounted for “only” 47.58% of the overall assets under management. More generally, it can be said that the competition for the top spots on the table of the largest ETF promoters in the Indo-Pacific is much closer than in the other regions around the globe and is driven by local ETF promoters since large international promoters such as iShares or Vanguard only play minor roles.
ETF Flows by Promoters
Since the Indo-Pacific ETF industry is quite diversified when it comes to the concentration of the assets under management by promoter, it was not surprising that only four of the 10 largest promoters by assets under management were among the 10-top selling ETF promoters for the year 2025. Samsung was the best-selling ETF promoter in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry for the year (+$19.6 bn), ahead of Mirae Asset (+$17.7 bn) and Yuanta Funds (+$13.0 bn).
Graph 9: Ten Best-Selling ETF Promoters, January 1 – December 31, 2025 (USD Billions)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The flows of the 10-top promoters accounted for estimated net inflows of $95.7 bn. As for the overall flow trend in 2025, it was clear that some of the 268 promoters (61) faced estimated net outflows (-$13.0 bn in total) over the course of the year 2025.
Assets Under Management by Region
Since the Indo-Pacific region is comprised of several different individual regions, it makes sense to break the assets under management down to the underlying regions. ETFs domiciled in China ($859.1 bn) held the highest assets under management in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry at the end of 2025. They were followed by ETFs domiciled in Japan ($713.5 bn), ETFs domiciled in the Asia Pacific region ($525.0 bn), ETFs domiciled in Australia and New Zealand ($208.8 bn), and ETFs domiciled in India ($121.9 bn).
Graph 10: Assets Under Management in the Indo-Pacific ETF Industry by Region – December 31, 2025 (in bn USD)
Source: LSEG Lipper
These numbers show that the assets under management in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry are distributed over all underlying regions. It also shows that the adoption of ETFs by local investors differs from one part of the Indo-Pacific ETF industry to the other.
Estimated Net Flows by Region
By reviewing the estimated flows in the Indo-Pacific 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.
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 Indo-Pacific wide reach.
This means that some of the estimated flows for European ETFs also include flows from the Indo-Pacific region, hence these flows are not visible in the statistics of this report.
Graph 11: Estimated Net Flows in the Indo-Pacific ETF Industry by Region, January 1 – December 31, 2025 (in bn USD)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Asia Pacific (+$80.7 bn) was the sub-region which enjoyed the highest estimated net inflows in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry over the course of 2025. They were followed by ETFs domiciled in Australia and New Zealand (+$32.0 bn), India (+$14.2 bn), Japan (+$3.3 bn), and China (+$1.2 bn).
Assets Under Management by Domicile
To investigate the concentration by region in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry further, it makes sense to analyze the assets under management by domicile. At the end of the year 2025, the Indo-Pacific ETF industry was split into 15 domiciles. China was the largest single country ETF domicile ($859.1 bn) within the region, followed by Japan ($713.5 bn), Taiwan ($241.6 bn), South Korea ($206.6 bn), and Australia ($205.0 bn). These five ETF domiciles account for assets under management of $2,225.8 bn, or 91.66%, of the overall assets under management in the Indo-Pacific ETF industry.
Graph 12: ETF Domiciles in the Indo-Pacific ETF Industry Ranked by Assets Under Management – December 31, 2025 (in bn USD)
Source: LSEG Lipper
These numbers show that the assets under management in the Indo-Pacific 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 as the overall market size of these domiciles.
Estimated Net Flows by Domicile
In more detail, South Korea (+$53.1 bn) was the single fund domicile with the highest estimated net inflows in the Indo-Pacific region over the course of 2025. It was followed by Australia (+$33.1 bn), Taiwan (+$23.4 bn), India (+$14.2 bn), and Japan (+$3.3 bn).
Graph 13: ETF Domiciles Ranked by Estimated Net Inflows, January 1 – December 31, 2025 (in bn USD)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The full list of the ETF domiciles in the Indo-Pacific region does an even better job of showcasing that ETFs are used by investors all over the region 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.
