ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm renowned for its expertise in subscription research, consulting services, events, and ETF TV on global ETF industry trends, wishes the ETFs industry in Europe a happy 25th anniversary.

April 11, 2025 marks the 25^th anniversary of the listing of the first ETFs in Europe. The LDRS DJ STOXX 50 and LDRS DJ EUROSTOXX 50 sponsored by Merrill Lynch were listed on 11 April, 2000 on the Deutsche Borse, closely followed by the listing of the iShares FTSE 100 ETF on the London Stock Exchange on April 28, 2000. The LDRS ‘leaders’ were acquired by Barclays Global Investors from Merrill Lynch in September 2003 and their names were changed to iShares DJ STOXX 50 and iShares DJ EUROSTOXX 50.

🎉Join us to celebrate 25 years of ETFs in Europe. 📢#RegisterNow https://bit.ly/3PVMVXR to attend our 6th ETFGI Global ETFs Insights Summit at the London Stock Exchange on May 1st and virtually on May 2nd!

Ring the opening🔔bell at the London Stock Exchange, 🎤hear from industry leaders and enjoy a networking 🥂reception. Looking forward to seeing everyone then.

At the end of March there was US$2.40 trillion invested in the ETFs industry in Europe. During March the ETFs industry in Europe gathered net inflows of US$28.63 billion, bringing year-to-date net inflows to a year to date record of US$99.04 billion, according to ETFGI’s March 2025 European ETFs industry landscape insights report, the monthly report which is part of an annual paid-for research subscription service. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)

Highlights

• April 11th marks the 25th anniversary of the first ETF listing in Europe.
• Assets of $2.40 Tn invested in the ETFs industry in Europe at the end of March are the second highest on record, below the record high assets of $2.41 Tn at the end of February 2025.
• Net inflows of $28.63 Bn in March 2025.
• Record YTD net inflows of $99.04 Bn, while the second highest YTD net inflows are $59.30 Bn in 2021 and the third highest YTD net inflows are $49.73 Bn in 2022.
• 30^th month of consecutive net inflows.

“The S&P 500 index decreased by 5.63% in March and us down by 4.27% YTD in 2025. The developed markets excluding the US index decreased by 0.36% in March and is up 5.70% YTD in 2025. Denmark (down 11.58%) and United States (down 6.34%) saw the largest decreases amongst the developed markets in March. The emerging markets index increased by 0.65% during March and is up 0.91% YTD in 2025. Czech Republic (up 14.00%) and Greece (up 13.13%) saw the largest increases amongst emerging markets in March.” According to Deborah Fuhr, managing partner, founder, and owner of ETFGI.

Growth in assets in the ETFs industry in Europe as of the end of March

The ETFs industry in Europe has 3,176 products, with 13,378 listings, assets of $2.40 Tn, from 124 providers listed on 29 exchanges in 24 countries at the end of March.

During March, ETFs gathered net inflows of $28.63 Bn. Equity ETFs gathered net inflows of $23.61 Bn in March, bringing YTD net inflows to $72.15 Bn, significantly higher than the $38.40 Bn in net YTD in 2024. Fixed income ETFs reported net inflows of $93.07 Mn during March, bringing YTD net inflows to $12.95 Bn, slightly higher than the $12.16 Bn in net inflows YTD in 2024. Commodities ETFs reported net inflows of $1.22 Bn during March, bringing YTD net inflows to $5.46 Bn, higher than the $2.32 Bn in net outflows YTD in 2024. Active ETFs attracted net inflows of $3.64 Bn during the month, gathering YTD net inflows to $7.36 Bn, significantly higher than the $2.32 Bn in net inflows YTD in 2024.

Substantial inflows can be attributed to the top 20 ETFs by net new assets, which collectively gathered $17.88 Bn in March. iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (CSSPX SW) gathered $1.43 Bn, the largest individual net inflow.

Source: ETFGI