Even Ciaran Fitzpatrick, head of ETF servicing Europe at State Street, is surprised to see phenomenally strong growth in true active ETFs this year. The latest generation of ETF products, also dubbed ‘ETF 3.0’, is rapidly making its way into portfolios of both institutional and retail investors. The US is leading but Europe is not far behind.

Speaking to Investment Officer for this IO Talks podcast, Fitzpatrick observed that while the true active ETFs have been around since 2008, the real growth is happening now. “Over 63 percent of flows in the US last month were into active ETFs, which I don’t think anyone expected. This is just huge, you know.”

Europe is following the US in the active space, Fitzpatrick said, but at this side of the Atlantic, it is still a small component of the overall ETF market. “You’re talking probably shy of 30 billion euro in true active ETF assets across Europe, whereas the overall market is about 1.6 trillion, which is, you know, very significant. The growth has not been as quick as in the US, but Europe is seen to be - I wouldn’t say behind the US - but obviously advancing at a different speed.”

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